Connected As One Additional Scenes & One Shots
by AbsterStories
Summary: Additional scenes and one shots to co-inside with my other story Connected As One. This can also be read independently as well. These will mainly be Emily and Jayje based, with other characters thrown in occasionally. Jemily friendship leading to Jemily relationship. Will also take requests. See individual chapters for ratings and warnings.
1. Important Information

**Important Authors Note.**

This will be a little one shot series to co-inside with my other story Connected As One. These stories will be flashbacks and events that have happened in that story that I have not been able to fit into the writing process or the story.

As well as showing some milestones and first moments of Emily and Jayje's relationship it will also contain elements from when they were just friends showing the progression of their friendship.

The one shots will mainly be off Emily and Jayje, but will also have other team members in as well.

As I mentioned it will co-inside with my other story so I would suggest reading that as well if you haven't already, however it won't be 100% needed if you don't want to or don't have time.

Like my other story Emily has been with the team for longer than Jayje. She is five years older than Jayje is. Emily joined the team when she was 24. Jayje joins the team just before her 22nd birthday.

If anybody has any ideas they would like to try out for these one shots on anything they feel I should include from what has been mentioned so far in my Connected AS One story please feel free to let me know through reviews and or pms.

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 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Criminal Minds or any elements and characters related to the show I am merely borrowing these awesome character to make a fan fiction.

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 **AN:** I would just like to say a massive thank you to **USCutie15** and **elphiemolizbethbau** for their advice and support in starting this one shot series, without them I probably would have decided against posting it.


	2. One: First Day

**One: First Day.**

 **One Shot Name:** First Day.

 **Short Synopsis:** JJ's first day on the job has a few more bumps in the road then she would have wished for.

 **Rating:** K.

 **Additional Information:** JJ is 21 soon to 22. Emily is just turned 27.

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Well this is just great, new FBI Agent Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau thought to herself.

She was fresh out of the academy having just been picked by the legendary Agent Jason Gideon along with only one other student to be a part of FBI's Behavioural Analysis Unit.

It was her first day at her first job and she was going to be late.

She had overslept, she hadn't eaten, her hands were shaking with nerves, the takeaway coffee she had under her one arm was going cold, and now her car wouldn't lock.

Stupid old banger, she thought to herself.

Her plan was to get a new car as soon as possible, this one may have sentimental value but if it cost her this job she was going to scrap the damn thing.

Finally after managing to lock the car she took off quickly towards the building of her new job when suddenly she felt herself collide with something hard.

Something that fell to floor.

Something that her coffee spilled all over from the sudden contact.

Something that she was pretty sure was actually in fact a someone, not a something.

Looking down her eyes widened.

There on the floor was a woman wearing a pant suit, she looked to be in her mid-twenties and had shoulder length dark brown hair.

"What the?" The woman started dazed.

"Oh my god!" JJ cut in.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you there!" She apologized.

"I'm so sorry! Are you okay?" She continued after realizing what she had done.

The brunette looked down at her chest were the coffee that had been flung on her was seeping through her shirt, making her bra visible.

Brushing herself off, she pulled herself up from the floor before pulling the blazer she has wearing a bit tighter around herself.

"I'll be fine, nothing a change of clothes can't fix." She said.

"I'm so sorry, I can be such an idiot sometimes!" JJ apologized again, feeling her cheeks turn red in embarrassment.

"Seriously it's fine, err…?" She said trying to figure out the name of the person who had knocked her over, realizing she had never seen her before.

"Jennifer, Jennifer Jareau." JJ supplied holding her hand out for the brunette to shake.

"Emily Prentiss." The brunette replied shaking JJ's hand.

"Don't worry Jennifer. I wasn't exactly paying attention to where I was going either." Emily said with a shrug, which wasn't entirely a lie, she had been searching for her phone in her bag.

She should have been angry, this woman had just thrown coffee all over a new shirt.

Usually she would be angry, but something about the blonde made her want to be nice.

To not take her head off like she usually would do to anyone else who had done this to her.

She found that she really didn't have the heart to the make the blonde feel bad, she already looked so guilty.

"Your shirt is ruined, here let me give you some money to replace it" JJ said as she began to search in her handbag for her purse.

"There's no need. Honestly. I have a change of clothes in my car. Besides this one is old anyway." Emily assured her, partially lying.

"Are you sure?" JJ said looking up from her bag, her eyes large.

"It's fine. You seem like you're in a hurry anyway." Emily replied.

"I'm kinda running late, it's my first day." JJ replied her hand now leaving her handbag to rub the back of her neck nervously.

"Don't let me keep you then." Emily said with a small smile.

"Thanks, sorry again." JJ said while starting to walk backwards.

"It's fine, just maybe next time pay more attention to what's"-

Emily began to say, stopping as Jennifer who had been walking backwards turned around right into a wall with an 'oofff' sound.

-"around you." Emily finished.

"I'm okay." She heard Jennifer call out before dashing off.

"Interesting girl." She said to herself amused.

 **Cmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcm**

Twenty minutes later SSA Emily Prentiss made her way into the Bullpen of the BAU with a new shirt on under her blazer.

She quickly dumped her handbag on her desk and made her way to her boss and team leader SSA Aaron Hotchner's office.

She knocked on the door once before quickly entering.

"Sorry I'm late Hotch, crazy morning! Had a slight accident in the parking lot." She said making her way into the office leaving the door wide open.

"Emily?" She heard a voice ask in surprise to her left.

Looking to her side she noticed the girl from earlier was sat in the chair opposite her team leader.

"Jennifer, right?" Emily said before taking the empty seat next to her.

"You two know each other?" Hotch asked in surprise.

"I'm the reason she's late." JJ said in response, feeling the need to make sure the other woman didn't get into trouble due to her clumsiness.

"We sort of bumped into each other and I threw my coffee all over her." JJ explained seeing her new bosses' confused expression.

"You did that to Prentiss before 9 'o' clock in the morning and you're alive to tell the tale" A voice said impressed from the open door.

"Damn it Morgan, I'm not that bad!" Emily said rolling her eyes.

"Derek, can you close the door please?" Hotch asked slightly amused by the exchange although not showing it.

He waited he door to be closed before turning back to the two female agents in front of him.

"Now you're here let's continue." He said changing the topic noticing the newer agent's nervousness and wanting to get on with the day.

"Agent Jareau here, is joining us fresh from the academy. She is going to be our media liaison for when we are out in the field, she will also be helping me choose the cases that we work on." Hotch explained to Emily, who shot an impressed glance towards the blonde.

Hotch couldn't blame her, he had been unsure at first as well, but when Gideon had showed him what the girl had accomplished while training at the academy he knew she would be perfect for the role.

"I thought it might be an idea for you to show Agent Jareau how we operate around here, introduce the other members of our team to her." Hotch said now addressing Emily specifically.

"Not a problem." Emily immediately replied, throwing JJ a quick smile.

"Did you bring the documents we spoke about?" Hotch asked addressing JJ now.

"Yeah, right here." JJ said pulling a bunch of papers out from her handbag that was on the floor next to her chair.

"Good. Our technical analysist will need to see those, to get you on the system and get your credentials updated. Prentiss will show you where to take them." Hotch explained, before dismissing the two agents.

"Off to Garcia's lair we go." Emily said while standing, waiting for JJ to stand too collecting her bag.

"Any problems come and find me." Hotch said not looking up from the file he had begun reading.

"We'll be fine, Garcia isn't that bad." Emily joked while opening the door allowing JJ to walk though first.

Hotch smiled slightly as Emily walked out after, closing the door behind her this time.

Morgan had been right.

He didn't know many people that could do what the new agent had accidentally done to Prentiss and get away with it, this was going to be interesting.

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AN: so...that was their first meeting, what did you think? Let me know!


	3. Two: First Case

Hey all, thanks for those that are reading, and left reviews liked and favorited and so on. Heres the next one, this was is a small one, bit of a continuation to JJ's first day, this time being her first case. Hope you enjoy, let me know what you think.

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 **Two: First Case**

 **Synopsis:** Jayje's first case with the team goes as well as it can for any case, but Emily notices something about the blonde on the way home.

 **Rating:** K.

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Emily sighed as she leaned back in her chair on the jet.

The case had been a tough one.

It always was when it involved kids, but at least this time they could all go home knowing they stopped a monster and even managed to save one of the children that had been taken.

It had been hard on all of them, trying to be professional and not get too emotionally involved, but they had done it.

Most of it was due to the new addition to their team.

Jennifer had been the one to fill in the blanks that for some reason the rest of them just couldn't figure out, without her this case could have turned out very differently.

It was safe to say any doubts anyone on the team had about the new agent had been sufficiently thrown out the window now.

Gideon had been right, she was bright, she was perceptive, and she was brilliant with words.

She was amazing at controlling the media when they released any information to the press, she handled herself so well.

Emily had been surprised, upon first meeting the blonde she had thought her to be, well, a bit of a ditz to be honest.

She could see now looks could be deceiving and the young agent was not as ditzy, not as fragile as first appearances may give.

She was an asset to the team, she was going to be a great media liaison, hell she would probably be a great profiler if she wanted to go down that road one day.

Looking around the jet, Emily could see all the other members of her team were now asleep.

All part from Jennifer.

She was sat at the back of the jet, her back facing Emily while she herself was facing the jet door.

The only reason Emily could tell she was not asleep yet was due to the fact that her one leg, that was closest to the isle, could be seen bouncing up and down like someone would do when they were nervous about something.

Emily had noticed this earlier too.

When they were first on the jet heading out to the case. The blonde had sat in the same seat then, just as restlessly.

She had jumped up and shot off the plane as soon as it had safely landed, Morgan had seen it too and raised a questioning eyebrow in wonder to Emily.

Why he expected her to know the reason for the blonde's actions she had no idea.

Sure she had probably spent the most time with her so far but that was due to Hotch asking her to show her the ropes so to speak.

Usually Emily would have just left it alone, sometimes after these cases they needed space to process everything that had happened.

It had been a tough case, the new agent could just simply have pent up nerves from it all with it being her first case.

Something made her want to check on the blonde though, why she didn't know.

She hardly knew her.

They had only just meet five days ago.

She didn't know why but she found herself drawn to the girl, she wanted to know about her, about her likes, dislikes.

She wanted to make her feel comfortable.

Making the conscious decision that she should check on her, check she was okay, she slowly pushed herself up from the chair and made her way to the back of the jet.

It wasn't until she passed Jennifer and took a seat opposite her that the blonde even noticed her presence.

She had been staring at the door, well until Emily sat down in front of her startling her out of her thoughts, breaking her stare on the door.

"You could have told one of us, you know?" She insisted gently.

"What?" Jennifer asked confused, consciously trying to stop her leg from bouncing.

"That you're a nervous flyer." Emily replied, thinking that to be the cause of the blonde's nerves.

Garcia was the same when she had to come on the jet. She hated flying, noticing the similarities Emily assumed this was also the problem for the new agent.

"It's not flying that makes me nervous." Jennifer said quietly her eyes looking behind Emily to the door again.

Emily looked behind her following Jennifer's gaze before turning back around and raising an eyebrow in question to her.

"Oh? What is it then?" Emily asked, the profiler in her curious as she noticed the blonde's leg was once again nervously bouncing.

"Nothing. It's stupid. Sorry if I woke you." Jennifer replied, trying to change the topic.

"You didn't, I wasn't sleeping." Emily assured her, noticing the topic change and deciding to run with it, she didn't want to make the girl more uncomfortable then she already obviously was.

Thinking quickly Emily opened a small compartment at the table they were sitting between and pulled out a pack of cards closing the compartment again and placing the pack on the table.

"Do you play?" Emily inquired.

"I don't know many games." Jennifer answered after her thought, forcing her leg to stop bouncing again.

"What do you know?" Emily asked, taking the cards from the pack, tossing it aside on the table before beginning to shuffle the pack.

"Um, bullshit?" Jennifer inquired unsure if that was a real game or just one her college dorm mates had made up.

"Ah, bullshit, haven't played that since my college days." Emily said with a smile.

"Prepare to be wowed Jareau." Emily said as she started to deal out the cards, causing Jennifer to laugh.

Emily smiled, she may not know why the blonde was nervous, but at least she was making her feel more comfortable.

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Don't forget to drop me a review and let me know what you think and if you have any requests I would love to try them :)


	4. Three: Jayje

Hi all, thank you again for all the reviews and those reading liking and favoring! here is the next one shot, again a slightly smaller one I hope you like it, let me know :)

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 **Three: Jayje.**

 **Synopsis:** During their first time sharing a room together while on a case Emily leans her new team mate's nickname.

 **Rating:** K.

 **Important Information:** This is set 1 month after JJ joins the team, this is her fourth case, Reid has yet to join the team.

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Emily sighed as she flopped down hard onto the hotel single bed, her go bag dumped on the floor next to it.

She was annoyed, she was in fact beyond annoyed.

She didn't know who Morgan thought he was, just because he was a guy he felt the need to be all manly and rude about things.

"Sorry about this." Jennifer said, she was stood in the small hallway that led from the door of the hotel room to the main room with the two single beds in, go bag still in hand.

"Huh?" Emily replied confused, as she turned around and sat up on the bed facing Jennifer.

Looking at her she felt bad, she had been so annoyed with the situation and with Morgan she didn't even stop to think about the younger girl and how she felt.

Looking to her now Emily could see the poor girl really didn't know what to do with herself, she was stood at the edge of the room looking completely out of place, almost nervous.

"This. You being stuck with having to share a room with me." Jennifer answered her, self-consciously pulling her jacket a little tighter around herself.

Great, Emily thought.

Now she had gone and made the newer agent feel more uncomfortable about the situation then it already needed to be.

To be honest it wasn't even that bad, it was just she was tired.

Unfortunately a tired Emily Prentiss is a grumpy Emily Prentis.

"It's just you seem really annoyed about it. Sorry I should have said no when Agent Gideon asked us." Jennifer continued.

Damn it Prentiss say something! Emily thought to herself.

She felt terrible, she knew Jennifer was shy, she had since day one.

It was partly why she had been so impressed with how the younger agent handled herself in the field, how she handled the press.

She was so confident up on the stand when dealing with the press, but talking to her one on one at times she was incredibly shy, almost painfully so.

The last thing she wanted to do was make her feel as though sharing a room with her was the worst thing in the world.

Especially when she really wanted to become friends with her.

Close friends.

"No Jennifer, I'm sorry. It's not you I'm annoyed at, I really don't mind sharing a room with you. Morgan just really annoyed me down there." Emily said with a smile, relieved when the blonde moved to the other bed and sat down placing her go bag on the bed behind her.

"With what he said about girls always having sleepovers and stuff like that?" Jennifer said as she crossed her legs on top of the bed cover facing Emily.

"Yes! He's just so Morgan. He thinks oh I'm a guy I can't share a room with my boss that's just so un cool, but you two are girls. You have girly sleep overs and braid hair and have pillow fights with your friends outside of work so you can just bunk together." Emily ranted animatedly, her voice a low tone trying to mimic speaking like Morgan.

Jennifer laughed before starting to go through her go bag to find something to sleep in.

"He was being rather sexist." She said seeing why Emily was annoyed.

"Oh he was, you wait until tomorrow. I'll get him back for that one." Emily answered confidently.

"Remind me to never annoy you." Jennifer said jokingly with a smile now more at ease.

Emily laughed as she looked over to Jennifer who was digging through her bag still, something on the blondes lap caught her eye.

"Do all your t-shirts have your initials on like that?" Emily inquired amused.

"What?" Jennifer responded, confused.

Emily pointed to a purple t-shirt the blonde had on her lap with the initials 'JJ' printed on in large bold red letters.

"Oh. This is an old sports shirt from high school. 'JJ' was my nickname from the team, I know original right?" Jennifer replied with a small laugh.

She really did find it amusing they couldn't come up with a better nickname for her other than 'JJ'.

"Jennifer 'Jayje' Jareau huh? It's not that bad. Kinda suits you." Emily said with a nod, she liked it.

"Well I prefer being called 'JJ' to Jenny, that's for sure." The blonde replied her face showing disgust when she saying 'Jenny'.

"Noted." Emily said with a smile.

She had seen Morgan call the newer agent that the other day and had watched amused as Jennifer ignored him until he called her Agent Jareau.

"Do you mind if I jump in the shower first?" Emily suddenly asked, she enjoyed talking with the new agents but was tired she just wanted to shower and then crash out.

"No go ahead." Jennifer replied with a smile.

"Won't be long." Emily declared as she got up from the bed and made her way to the bathroom grabbing her go bag as she went.

Less than ten minutes later Emily emerged from the bathroom, showered and fully changed into a grey baggy top and dark blue sleep shorts.

"Showers all yours." She said as she walked into the room and dumped her go bag on the floor near a small table.

"Jennifer?" She asked turning around wondering why that blonde had yet to move or answer her.

Looking to the single bed nearest the window Emily saw the younger agent was already passed out asleep in her old sports shirt and a pair of shorts, she hadn't even managed to cover herself with the bed cover.

Emily could feel a soft breeze blowing in from the window, she figured Jennifer liked sleeping with it open as she did.

Not wanting her to get cold in the night Emily made her way to the blonde agents bed and softly pried the bed cover from under her one leg before covering her up with it to keep her warm in the night.

"Sweet dreams, Jayje." Emily said with a small smile as she moved to turn the light off in the bathroom before getting into bed herself.

Emily had decided that would be her nickname for the blonde now too.

Jayje suited her perfectly.

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Let me know what you thought, for those that also read Connected as One the main story, I will be posting the next update tomorrow for you all :).


	5. Four: Rockets

**Hey everyone, thanks for all the reviews and reads, hope you are enjoying these. This one was inspired from a particular episode from series 2 of CM and has been adapted to my Jemily storyline. Don't forget to let me know what you think and if you have any requests and or ideas.**

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 **One shot Name:** Rockets.

 **Synopsis:** Reid and JJ want to see what goes further and faster, a physics rocket or a coke rocket.

 **Rating:** K.

 **Important Information:** Reid has now been with the team for two weeks, him and JJ remembered each other from the Academy, even though they didn't know each other well.

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 **Four: Rockets.**

It was early in the morning as JJ made her way into the Bullpen of the BAU, she was getting used to these early starts now, in fact she was good at them always on time if not early.

She had put 'the old banger' as she called it in storage, not ready to part with the car yet, and had got herself another cheap but more reliable car that got her to work on time.

Looking around she could see Morgan and Garcia chatting about something near Garcia's lair.

Gideon and Hotch were not in yet, their office doors were open with no sign of either of them.

Reid or 'Spence' as JJ liked to call him was sat at his desk reading another book.

Smiling JJ made her way over to Reid's desk and sat down on the edge of it her hand searching in her handbag for something.

The two of them hadn't know each other well at the academy, but upon both becoming part of the team here at the BAU, they found they got on really well.

They were both around the same age, they had similar interests.

They both liked science, and experiments.

"I bet you, my rocket will be faster and more powerful, than yours." JJ insisted, as she placed a can of coke a cola and packet of mentos on the table in front of them.

"How much?" Reid asked still not looking up from his book.

"Twenty bucks?" JJ asked with a shrug.

"Fifty." Reid stated.

"Fine. Fifty." JJ agreed, causing Reid to look up from his book surprised.

"You're confident." He stated, JJ nodded in response.

She was, she knew coke rockets could fly well, she and her sister had played with them a few times when little.

She had been adamant they had more power in them than the 'physics rockets' Reid had demonstrated the other day.

Now she wanted to prove it.

"Worried you're wrong?" JJ challenged.

"Not at all." Reid responded with a smirk, he was hardly ever wrong.

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Ten minutes later JJ walked into the BAU ladies bathroom, a full cup of coffee in hand and a guilty look on her face.

"You going to throw that at me too?" Emily sassed from in front of the sink.

She was stood in view of the mirror dabbing tissue paper on her white blouse where a coke a cola stain could be seen.

"No! No, I thought you might want a coffee is all." JJ replied as she walked up to Emily.

She placed the coffee on the side next to the sink, before glancing a look at Emily.

She was covered in coke a cola, it wasn't just on her blouse.

"I'm really sorry about that, honestly." JJ said guiltily, she felt really bad.

Emily nodded in response, still dabbing at the stained spot.

"Sorry again. I, I should go." JJ continued looking down before starting to turn around.

"Jayje?" Emily called seeing the blondes upset expression as she turned away from her.

She waited until JJ turned back around to face her and meet her eyes in the mirror.

"You really have to stop doing things like this, you are going to give me a complex." She said mock-seriously.

"There's only so many times a girl can have stuff thrown at her before she convinces herself someone has something against her." Emily joked with a smirk.

"It was an accident, honest. I'm really sorry!" JJ insisted her cheeks turning bright red.

Emily was right, this had happened far too much.

It had happened her first day where she had thrown a coffee all over the older agent, yesterday when she had been hit on the top of the head by the 'physics rocket' Reid had shown her how to make, and now today.

Emily had been unfortunate enough to walk right into the Bullpen as both rockets took off in the air, Reid's 'physics rocket' hitting her in the face, while JJ's coke rocket exploded mid-air covering the brunette with its contents.

To say Emily had been angry was an understatement.

She had taken one look at those in the room before storming out again.

Leaving in her wake a hysterically laughing Garcia and Morgan, an impressed Reid who said he would take JJ's bets more seriously next time and a shocked and guilty looking JJ.

"I know, don't worry." Emily reassured her smiling softly before turning her attention back to the stain on her blouse.

"You know, you are one of the only people I can't seem to stay mad at." Emily half joked, the last part was serious, she really couldn't stay mad at the younger agent.

"Count yourself lucky." She finished with a laugh.

"Oh I do, you're kinda scary when mad." JJ teased back with a smile as she walked closer to stand next to Emily.

"Chicken." Emily replied with a smile, bumping her shoulder against the blondes gently.

"So who won?" She asked.

"The bet? Who won?" She continued seeing JJ's confused expression.

"You tell me?" JJ asked with a smile.

If anyone should know it was Emily. Both rockets did hit her in all fairness.

"Pretty sure the coke rocket hit harder." Emily replied looking down again at the small stain on her blouse.

"You'd be right." JJ said as she fished the bundle of notes, Reid had reluctantly given her, out of her pocket to show Emily.

"Lunch is on you then." Emily said grabbing the bundle of notes out of JJ's hand with a smile.

"Hey!" JJ said in protest, causing Emily to raise her eyebrows at her again.

"Okay, I guess that's fair." JJ relented.

Emily flashed her a winning smile before picking up her coffee and taking a sip.

Yes that was fair, very fair.

"Might even let you join me." Emily said placing her arm not holding the coffee around JJ's shoulder and walking the both of them out of the bathroom.

"You're a good friend." JJ said chuckling.

"Damn straight." Emily replied.

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 **Don't forget to drop me a review! Pretty please!**


	6. Five: Occupational Hazards

Hello everybody, I meant to post this last night but ran out of time before having to work the night shift, sorry it's a bit late but hope you enjoy. Just wanted to say a quick thank you to USCutie15 and 102000QP for your requests and ideas, I will work those into the one shot series for you as soon as possible, when it is your requested idea I will leave a dedication in the opening information for you

For those reading Connected as One the main story, you can expect the next chapter later today/tonight. Hope you enjoy this next one, its just a little one this time but I thought it was cute and funny, let me know what you think!

Thank you to all that are reading and reviewing, please continue to do so I love to hear what you think.

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 **Name:** Occupational Hazards.

 **Synopsis:** JJ see's Emily get hurt in the field the first time and finds herself more affected by it than she thought.

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 **Five: Occupational Hazards**

"Are you sure you're okay?" JJ asked for the umptinth time in the last hour.

To say she was worried was an understatement.

Emily was always so confident, so self-assured and strong. Seeing her accepting help let alone needing help leaving the unsubs house earlier had been completely terrifying.

Even more so when JJ had seen the blood dripping from her friends brow from where the unsub had hit her with a baseball bat.

"I'm fine Jayje, the hospital wouldn't have cleared me to fly if I wasn't." Emily reassured her friend, again, laying back on the sofa at the front of the jet, her head resting on a cushion next to the blonde's leg.

From her place laying on the sofa Emily looked up to see that JJ looked far from convinced, her face showed worry, her shoulders were drawn together tensely.

"Just need a good night's sleep and some strong painkillers, I'll be fine after that." Emily said with a small smile.

"What if Morgan hadn't had been in there with us, do you think he would have kept going?" JJ asked staring at the bandage on Emily's head, she felt guilty, the unsub had gone for her with the bat.

The only reason it was Emily with a battered head and concussion and not her was due to the fact Emily pushed her out of the way and took the hit for her.

"Best not to go there. Morgan stopped him, now he's in gaol. He can't hurt anybody anymore." Emily said, she knew what was going through JJ's mind, she had the same thoughts going through her own mind.

The knock to the head she got from the bat had left her dazed, if the unsub had gone after JJ as well Emily would have not been able to do anything about it, the smack had sent her gun flying into another room and JJ was unarmed.

Emily was more accustomed to things like that happening from time to time, it came with the job.

All of them had at times been caught up in an unsubs attempt of an escape or breakdown, they had all at times been hurt.

For JJ though, this was the first time she had witnessed any of the team hurt like this, she had been told it can happen, she knew it could, but it was the first time for her to personally witness it.

"Yeah, but he could have killed you." JJ whispered.

There it was.

The reason for all her worry.

All her fussing.

She cared for Emily deeply.

The two had become close friends very quickly.

Emily had been the one to help JJ get settled in at the BAU and helped her settle in with the team.

Emily had been the one who made the most effort to help JJ with her fears on the plane, even though she didn't know what those fears were.

Emily had been the first real friend JJ had had since her sister.

Emily was the one who just took a bat to the head for her, without thinking twice.

JJ was terrified of losing her, and today had been far too close for comfort.

"Hey." Emily said sitting up again with a wince, turning to face the blonde trying to draw her attention from the spot of the floor JJ had decided to stare at.

"I'm okay. It's gonna take more than some crazy wackjob with a baseball bat to get rid of Emily Prentiss." She continued bumping her shoulder with JJ's gently causing the blonde to smile.

"You are pretty tough." JJ agreed shaking her head as she smiled.

It was amazing that just like that, a few words and a playful shoulder bump, could almost completely evaporate her worries.

Noticing that JJ now seemed more at ease, less worried, Emily lay herself back down on the sofa her head resting on the cushion near JJ's leg again.

"Got to admit, I'm flattered." Emily began with a teasing tone.

"You must really care about me if you're willing to wait on me hand and foot, might have to get concussed more often." Emily said with a small chuckle watching as JJ narrowed her eyes at her.

"Don't you dare!" JJ insisted, the idea horrifying her.

"I'm just saying these things happen. Guess you could call it an occupational hazard." Emily replied holding her hands up in defence while looking up at the blonde with a smirk.

"Smartass." JJ muttered, unimpressed.

"You'd miss me if I wasn't here." Emily said with a wink.

"You can walk home, I'm not driving you." JJ said as she crossed her arms, a pout on her face.

"Sure." Emily said knowingly, they both knew JJ would be driving her home.

"You're not my friend anymore." JJ sulked.

"Whatever you say Jayje, whatever you say." Emily said with a smile relaxing further into the couch.

* * *

Let me know what you thought and if you have any requests!


	7. Six: Fries & Ice-cream

Hey guys! Thank you to everybody who is reviewing and reading these hope you are all still enjoying them, let me know what you think of this next one and if you have any requests, a few of you have sent some already and those will be coming up shortly I promise :)

* * *

 **Synopsis:** It's the morning after JJ and Reid's Birthday drinks, and Emily is in a foul mood due to something she thought she had been able to get away with actually finding a way to get out.

 **Rating:** K+

 **Important information:** This one shot takes place directly after the flashback scene of 2 years in Connected as One the main story, where the gang go out to celebrate Reid's Birthday as well as JJ's that had passed a few months ago without them knowing.

* * *

 **Six: Fries & Ice-cream. **

How could it only be 11 o'clock?

Would this day, this morning even, ever end?

It had been a long morning for Emily, a long boring paperwork filled morning at her desk.

They currently, for the first time in a very long time, didn't have a case that required their immediate attention to be working on, so Hotch and Gideon had the team catching up on paper work.

Emily hated paperwork.

She hated it even more when hungover.

Beep. Beep.

Her phone notifying her of a new text message brought her out of her annoyed pen tapping movement.

Throwing the pen down on the desk in front of her Emily picked up her phone and flipped it open.

She had one new message from Garcia.

A picture message.

Opening the message Emily's eyes widened in shock before she quickly flipped her phone shut again.

How the hell did she manage to take that photograph?

Emily had thought she had been the first person to wake up this morning, she had thought that both JJ and Garcia were still passed out.

Upon waking this morning Emily had found herself trapped underneath JJ, who had obviously found her a very comfortable pillow to sleep on through the night, when they had fallen asleep watching a movie together on the couch.

So comfortable in fact, that the younger blonde had made it really difficult for Emily to be able to slip out from underneath her without disturbing her.

She thought she had done so successfully, when after standing from the sofa she had seen JJ sigh and curl into herself tighter in a ball and Garcia had been seemingly still asleep in the same position she had fallen asleep in last night.

So how the hell did Garcia manage to have that photograph?

"Where is she?" Emily nearly shouted standing from her chair abruptly before making her way up to the stairs towards Garcia's lair as the bubbly tech liked to call it.

She had been walking so fast she almost bumped into JJ who spilt her coffee over her arm and nearly completely all over her, again.

Turns out JJ was even more accident prone when tired from a night out, she had already split coffee on Emily once this morning.

"Damn it Jayje!" She almost screamed brushing the coffee that had split onto her arm off before continuing past her to Garcia's lair.

JJ's eyes bulged at the tone Emily had used, she had never seen her this, well, angry.

Was this the wrath that Morgan had been talking about all these months that she had so far been yet to witness?

If so she was really glad it didn't seem overly projected at her at the moment.

Poor Garcia though, she thought to herself.

"It's not you, believe me. She just can't handle a hangover is all." Morgan said chuckling he had witnessed the whole thing and found the confused and worried look on JJ's face hilarious.

"Penelope Garcia! What the hell, is this?" JJ and Morgan heard Emily shout from Garcia's lair, they both looked to each other confused.

"Pretty sure it's a phone sweet-cheeks." Garcia replied, at a normal tone.

"I know that! This!" Emily shouted again, though a bit quieter this time.

"When did you even manage to take it? Why did you take it? Who have you sent it to?" Emily continued, ranting.

"Should we maybe go in there? See if they are okay?" JJ asked Morgan, slightly concerned.

Emily seemed really angry, more so than when the rockets had both hit her that one morning, if that was even possible.

"I'm staying out of this one!" Morgan replied his hands up in the air as he backed away.

JJ knew she should probably do that same too, but she couldn't just leave Garcia alone with Emily when she was, well like the way she was right now.

After standing at the bottom of the stairs for a few more moments and still hearing Emily who seemed to be getting if possible more angrier by the second JJ came to a decision and started to make her way towards Garcia's lair.

She knocked once on the door before entering.

"Um, guys?" JJ said quietly interrupting Emily mid-sentence causing both Emily and Garcia to turn and look at her.

Garcia looked grateful to see her, while Emily's eyes narrowed once seeing her as she saw that JJ was still holding her coffee cup in one hand.

"Come to throw the rest on me?" Emily snapped crossing her arms.

"No! Sorry about that, I erm, didn't see you." JJ replied instantly, the hand not holding the coffee cup coming up to scratch the back of her neck.

Emily's eyes softened slightly at the sight, she knew that to be one of JJ's nervous habits, one of a few she had picked up on in the short time she had known her so far.

"Are you okay?" JJ asked, the question was directed at both of them, but her eyes found Emily's when she asked it.

She was worried, she had never seen Emily so mad, she had no idea what Garcia had done to make her so angry.

"I'm fine Jayje. Sorry I snapped at you. I didn't sleep very well I guess." Emily apologised, it really wasn't JJ's fault she was mad, to be honest she didn't really know why she was mad.

Well that was a lie, she did.

She just didn't want to admit that yet.

"Looks like you slept fine to me." Garcia sung out quietly turning her chair back to her computer screen in front of her.

"Shut it." Emily growled at her, her eyes narrowing down at Garcia once again.

"Do you wanna go get some lunch?" JJ asked suddenly, not liking the tension that was growing again in the room.

"Sweetness it's only 11 in the morning." Garcia reminded her gently with a smile.

"Brunch then?" JJ replied.

"Sure, why not." Emily said, instantly perking up at the idea of being able to get out.

To get away from paperwork.

"You girls go ahead without me, I'm not overly hungry yet." Garcia replied, a slight twinkle in her eye and a smile on her face.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Emily and JJ had made their way out of the building and down the street to a local café called 'The Cooper' that the team visited often, it was one of their favourites.

Emily had asked JJ to order for her telling the blonde what she wanted while she went to the toilet to 'freshen up' as she had said.

Really she just needed a few minutes to calm herself down.

She felt terrible for snapping at Garcia and JJ the way she had, she knew she could be a grump at times but it really wasn't needed.

She just had not expected that.

She honestly thought no one had seen the position she and JJ had ended up in last night.

The problem was that she liked how it felt when she woke up, having JJ close like that.

She wished it could happen again, but knew it couldn't and wouldn't.

To her knowledge JJ was completely straight, and to JJ's knowledge so was she, she hadn't told the blonde yet that she preferred to date women and men.

She had been unsure how to tell her, it had been the same with the rest of the team as well, eventually she had told them but not for a long time.

Not till she had felt the need to, she had learnt when young to keep personal things like this to her chest, having an ambassador for a mother taught her that.

She knew she should tell JJ, she knew that she should trust that JJ wouldn't treat her any differently, but she was scared.

Emily had had a soft spot for JJ since day one.

The younger agent was slowly wriggling her way into her heart and Emily felt herself suffocating with feelings for her.

She didn't want to tell her and possibly scare her off and lose her friendship all together.

She would rather have her as a friend than nothing at all.

The problem was that now Garcia would be watching, she would see it.

All the feelings that Emily tried to hide on a daily basis.

That's what had made Emily so angry, she wanted to pretend everything was normal and that nothing had changed.

It had though.

Garcia had seen them.

Even more so, she had unknowingly used Emily's own feelings against her as a joke by taking and sending her that photograph.

Sighing, Emily pushed her from the sink she had been leaning on while collecting her thoughts and made her way back into the café.

Making her way up to where JJ was sat she could see their food had already arrived, she must have been in the toilet's longer than she thought.

As she approached the table she almost came to a complete stop before taking a seat opposite the younger agent.

She had asked JJ to order her a bacon and mushroom baguette fancying fried foods to help with her hangover, but she had no idea what the blonde had ordered herself.

She had witnessed before that JJ would eat some strange combinations of food, but this one was completely beyond her belief.

What the hell was she eating?

"Jayje, that's gross! You call that lunch?" Emily said in disbelief as she watched her friend dip a fry into vanilla ice-cream before eating it.

"What?" JJ asked confused, her expression on her face matching the confusion in her voice.

"Fries and ice-cream are the best. It's hot and cold while being sweet and savoury all at the same time!" She continued before proceeding to dip another fry in the ice-cream and holding it out to Emily.

"Try it!" She insisted.

"No, I'm good thanks. You weirdo." Emily said laughing lightly as she pushed the offending food away from her.

JJ shrugged in response before eating the ice-cream covered fry herself and smiling to herself, causing Emily to laugh harder.

Yeah JJ was completely wriggling her way into Emily's heart.

Though as Emily watched her friend, laughing at her strange antics, she found herself becoming okay with that fact.

* * *

Don't forget to review and let me know what you thought!


	8. Seven: Right Hook

Hi all, sorry for the delay in getting the next one shot up for you all, but to make it up to you this one is a rather longish one. Hope you enjoy. A shout out to USCutie15, who partially suggested part of this one shot in her review of chapter 5.

Thank you to everybody that is reading and reviewing these, please dont forget to let me know what you think and if you have any ideas/requests you would like me to try and work in at some point :).

* * *

 **One Shot Name:** Right Hook.

 **Synopsis:** JJ has a scare while on a night out that results in her going to one person she feels can make her feel safe again, while Emily ends up saying something she had been having trouble disclosing about herself in off the cuff conversation.

 **Rating:** T.

 **Additional Information:** This one shot is set roughly six weeks after the last one posted, Emily has still not told JJ that she likes both men and women.

* * *

 **Seven: Right Hook.**

JJ sighed as she walked through the streets of Quantico quickly, running her hand through her hair in frustration, she didn't even know how she got herself into this situation.

Well yes she did actually, Morgan.

She was frustrated with herself for allowing the situation to get so out of hand.

She was frustrated with Morgan for not noticing how uncomfortable she had been.

It was Morgan who had begged her and begged her to go to the bar with him after work as everybody else was being 'lame' as he had said.

It was Morgan who sulked after she beat him at darts five times in a row.

It was Morgan who then proceeded to ditch her in the bar and walk out with some girl he had just met like a typical guy, completely forgetting about her in the process due to the alcohol he had drunk that night, leaving her alone with one of his friends he had introduced her to.

It was Morgan who had unbeknown to JJ had set her up with one of his friends that had a massive crush on her that she had absolutely no interest in.

To say it had been awkward was an understatement.

JJ had knocked the guys every advance back only for him to think she was playing hard to get and try harder, becoming more and more persistent with the increasing level of alcohol in his system.

After Morgan had left, seeing where this was going, JJ had also decided it was time for her to head home, only for Morgan's friend to not take the hint and try to follow her.

Which is why she now found herself walking quickly, almost running through the streets of Quantico with a bruised hand and a thumping heart.

The guy had followed her and pushed her up against an alleyway wall trying to kiss her as alcohol and testosterone took over.

JJ's fight or flight responses had both kicked in, she had kicked him in the groin and punched him in the face before getting away from him as quickly as possible.

She knew she should have just taken a taxi home and got off the streets as quickly as possible after that, he could be following her for all she knew, but she hadn't been thinking clearly.

What happened had brought back some painful unwanted memories from her teenage years that she would rather forget and truthfully she didn't want to be home on her own after what had happened.

It had scared her how quickly things had escalated, she was still shaken up by it.

There was only one place she wanted to be and one person she trusted enough to be with right now when her mind was overflowing in memories and fear.

It was that person she found herself unconsciously heading towards, as she all but ran into the apartment building and took the steps up to the top floor.

JJ paused for a moment when she reached the door, to collect her thoughts, trying to soothe out her clothes, before lifting her unbruised hand and knocking loudly on the door, hoping the owner was in right now.

She didn't have to wait long to find out, she heard grumbling on the other side of the door before it opened to reveal an annoyed and tired looking Emily.

"Jayje? Are you okay?" Emily asked concern suddenly flooding her features as she stepped aside to let the blonde agent through into her apartment.

It was late, she had no idea why JJ had just turned up on her door step, Emily could see from the way JJ shuffled into her apartment she was tense and nervous.

She could see it in the way her shoulders were drawn in close, the way her arms were practically hugging herself, the way she hadn't been able to look in her the eyes yet, the way she was breathing heavily as though she had been running.

"I'm sorry to bother you so late, I just panicked, I didn't want to be alone and you were the first person I thought of." JJ tried to explain her rambled thoughts, she scrunched her eyes up getting more frustrated with herself as she knew she wasn't making any sense.

She couldn't concentrate her mind was to overwhelmed right now with memories of her past and memories of what Morgan's friend had tried to do in that alleyway.

Emily frowned closing the door to her apartment, she didn't like the way her friend seemed so unsure of herself, JJ wasn't making any sense, she seemed even more nervous than she had when she first entered.

"I'm so sorry Emily, it's late I shouldn't have come. I shouldn't have bothered you. I should go, I'm fine don't worry about me. I'm sorry I just turned up like this. I – "

"Shhhhh. Calm down, it's okay. You're not a bother Jayje, you're not bothering me okay? It doesn't matter how late it is. You are obviously not fine, whatever has happened has clearly scared you and I'm not letting you leave like this. Just try and take some deep breaths and calm down for me, okay?" Emily said as she cut JJ off pulling the distressed woman into her arms holding her close to try and calm her down.

She did not like the tension she could feel as she ran her one hand up and down the blondes back trying to soothe her, she was worried that JJ was close to having a panic attack.

Part of Emily was so incredibly happy that JJ had chosen to come to her.

She loved being able to hold JJ closely in her arms like this now, sure they had hugged before but not in this way.

She just wished it was due to better circumstances though, she wished it wasn't due to the fact that JJ had shown up at her apartment at gone 12 at night scared and nervous.

She knew they were just friends, even though part of her wanted more still she knew that wouldn't happen, she was glad they had become the kind of friends that were close like this.

She was glad she could offer her friend comfort but hated to see her this way, she couldn't remember a time she had ever seen the blonde this worked up before.

Emily was relieved when she felt JJ lean her head against her shoulder, her arms coming up to wrap around Emily's back almost as though to secure her in place, as she started to breathe slowly and deeply in and out trying to calm down as Emily had told her.

"Can you tell me what happened to get you all worked up like this?" Emily asked after a few minutes of silence when she felt her friend relax against her in her arms, the tension now having left her body and her breathing back under control.

"It's stupid, I just got scared and I panicked is all." JJ replied trying to shrug off her earlier near panic attack, trying to forcefully push the memories back away inside of her head.

"If it scared you like this it isn't stupid." Emily said gently running her hand up and down JJ's back once more before pulling away from her to look into her eyes watching as JJ reluctantly let go of Emily and took a small step back looking to the ground before looking back up to meet her gaze.

"Some guy at the bar got a little bit pushy. He wouldn't take no for answer and it kinda freaked me out so I left, but he followed me." JJ explained as her one hand up came up to rub the back her neck nervously.

"I didn't know him, not really. He was one of Morgan's friends so we talked a little, I didn't want to be rude. I didn't like him like that though, I didn't mean to lead him on or anything. He got really mad when I told him I wasn't interested. He tried to kiss me and I just panicked and ran. It's my fault really I shouldn't have spoken to him, I probably led him on." She continued doubting herself looking to the floor again, she felt frustrated with herself that she let this happen, that she reacted to it the way she had.

"Stop right there." Emily insisted causing JJ's eyes to snap up to her quickly.

"Talking to a friend's friend is not leading someone on Jayje. You told him no, you told him you weren't interested. He should have accepted that. This isn't your fault, so don't go blaming yourself." Emily assured her friend rubbing her hand down JJ's arms gently, she could see the younger agent was still a little shaken.

She couldn't blame her really, with what they saw in these cases every day. It was events like this that turned other people into the victims and killers they profiled.

"You're okay though right? He didn't hurt you?" She continued concerned, looking JJ up and down for any injuries, if this guy had hurt her she would kill him.

Who is this guy anyway? Where the hell was Morgan when all this went down? Emily thought angrily.

Emily knew some of Morgan's friends could be pushy when drunk, she had had to rebuff them at times herself, Morgan knowing this would never leave her alone with them, his protective side coming out full force, why hadn't he protected JJ?

"I'm fine, I got away before he could do anything. I think my hand is going to bruise though." JJ replied rubbing the hand she spoke about, which did in fact look a little red, Emily seeing this raised a questioning eyebrow in her direction.

"I may have kicked him in the balls and punched him in the face before running away." JJ said at the confused and questioning look in Emily eyes smiling slightly as she saw Emily laugh lightly looking at her impressed.

"Come on. Let's get you some ice for that right hook." Emily said lightly as she placed a hand on the small on JJ's back and led her through into the kitchen.

She left JJ to get herself comfortable on one of the stools that were in front of a kitchen counter island in the middle of the kitchen as she bent down to open her freezer door and search a draw for some ice.

"Where was Morgan when all this went down anyway?" Emily asked, already knowing in her mind that she would be having words with him about this tomorrow.

"Probably getting busy with this girl he met." JJ replied, as she hopped up onto the stool.

"He was there one minute talking to her, the next thing I know I look around and they have both disappeared." She continued just as Emily closed the freezer door with a small bag of ice in her one hand.

"So let me get this straight." Emily said as she picked up a tea towel and wrapped the bag of ice in it.

"He convinced you to go out with him after work, introduced you to a friend of his, pretty much set you up with this guy in fact, and then basically ditched you." She continued as she walked up to the kitchen island and dropped down in the stool opposite JJ passing her the tea towel wrapped ice bag.

"Pretty much sums it up." JJ replied with a nod after thanking Emily for the ice and placing it on her hand sighing in content as the coolness numbed the heat she had felt in her hand beforehand.

"Morgan's friend won't be the only one that wins the prize of a kick to the balls and a punch to the face then." Emily said darkly, anger and protectiveness seeping in.

"In his defence, he was pretty drunk. He could have just forgotten I was there." JJ said as she shrugged trying to deter Emily's anger from Morgan, she was annoyed with him too, but she didn't want him to have to face Emily's wrath.

"That's no excuse Jayje, he shouldn't have just left you there. I'm not saying you can't take care of yourself because clearly you can, but things could have been so much worse. He should know by now that some of his friends are a bit over the top, they have been pushy with me in the past to the point I refused to go out with him till he stopped trying to set me up all the time and we had a massive argument about it." Emily said in frustration.

Morgan sometimes really annoyed her, he was a great guy, but he had to learn that he couldn't keep doing things like this, it made people really uncomfortable.

Plus it was dangerous, not all guys, or people for that matter, had the same moral compass as him.

Some people don't take no for an answer, and some people aren't as able to defend themselves as others, especially when alcohol is involved.

"Wait. He used to do this to you too?" JJ asked, thinking that might be why Emily hardly ever went out with him unless the whole team was present, why she always made sure she left before him.

"Yeah, until I basically told him it was pointless. I told him I would never be interested in any of his friends as they had the wrong anatomy and if he kept it up I would steal every date he tried to get for himself." Emily replied laughing as she remembered the look on his face when she had told him that, before realising what she had said to JJ causing her eyes to go wide while she watched her cautiously.

"The wrong anatomy?" JJ asked confused, clearly not understanding.

"Oh. Oh you mean. Oh. I get it. Fair enough." She continued after understanding what Emily had meant.

"Is that all you have to say?" Emily asked unsure, after a few moments of silence, she had been so nervous to tell JJ this, she couldn't believe she had just blurted it out like this.

JJ for her part just looked to her confused.

"I just blurted out to you that I prefer women to men." Emily said tensely.

"I've been trying to decide when and how to tell you for the last few weeks and I just randomly blurt it out and all you say is fair enough." She continued as though she could not believe it.

"What did you think I would say?" JJ asked gently, she could see how tense her friend was, this was obviously something that made her nervous.

"I didn't think you would say fair enough." Emily replied honestly.

"Did you think I would have a problem with it? With you liking women?" JJ asked, starting to see where her friend's nervousness could be coming from.

"I wasn't sure how I thought you would react. Most people are shocked. Usually they don't just accept it. Being an ambassador's daughter I grew up with a lot of people expecting big things from me, most people are angry when they find out. My mother didn't speak to me for two years after I told her. She's fine with it now, but I just always assume that people will react badly, and to be fair most people do." Emily explained, she could see JJ was hurt slightly by her expecting her to react badly, but she needed her to understand where that expectation came from.

"Tell them to go screw themselves." JJ said bluntly.

"What?" Emily asked shocked, she had never heard the blonde speak so bluntly before.

"You heard me. If people can't accept you for who you are, then they are not worth it." JJ said seriously looking Emily right in the eyes, her own fear and nervousness from earlier completely forgotten about.

Emily was nervous and unsure of herself, JJ had never seen her like this, and she didn't like seeing her like this.

She wanted Emily to know she was serious, people should accept her for who she is.

"So you seriously have no problem with me liking women?" Emily asked, still not able to believe that her friend had taken it so well, even Garcia had been a little awkward around Emily at first not really knowing how to act until Emily had made a joke about it.

"Nope." JJ said her lips poping the 'p' sound.

"Look, I may be from a small town, but I'm not small minded. So you like girls? Who cares! It doesn't change who you are. You're still Emily. You're still my friend, probably the best and most caring friend I have ever had. You're still the first person I thought of tonight when things got scary, you're still the person I trusted to make me feel safe again." JJ said simply.

"If anybody tells you differently, if they try to tell you that liking women changes who you are, you tell me. Apparently I have a really good right hook." JJ joked taking the ice off of her hand and lifting it up balling it into a fist making a punching action causing Emily to burst out laughing.

"I'm really glad you came here tonight Jayje." Emily said sincerely smiling at her friend.

"Me too." JJ replied smiling back.

* * *

 **AN:** Please let me know what you thought, the next one shot will be another request I have had off of my lovely readers, I will tell you whose it is when I post the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed :).


	9. Eight: Fears

Hey guys, sorry its taken so long to get another of these up I had an accident at work at the beginning of last weekend and landed myself in hospital for a few days. I'm home now but have a cast on my one hand which will make writing these a little slower but still possible, I promise to update these one shots at least once a week for you.

My muse for this one shot popped up and I just couldn't ignore it, so I'm afraid its not a request one this time, but it I promise it will be for the next one!

Thank you again for all who are reading and reviewing, its great to hear your thoughts on these, I hope you enjoy this one!

Thank you as well to all that have sent in requests, as promised there will be one of those requests in the next one shot, please do keep sending them as they come to you though, I would love to try them all.

* * *

 **One Shot Name:** Fears.

 **Synopsis:** An interesting conversation take place on the flight home from a case bringing out some truths of what certain team members fear.

 **Rating:** K+.

* * *

 **Eight: Fears**

It was late at night after a long case when the whole team, including Garcia, were on the jet up in the air on their way back home.

It was a long flight which meant the team was getting restless, just wanting to get home and rest.

JJ was getting restless and nervous, she hated being on the jet, she hated the feeling of being locked in with no way out.

Garcia was also getting restless, she hated flying, she hated being on any plane, she hated being on or in anything that had to go high above ground.

Currently Emily couldn't tell who was more nervous, Garcia with her non-stop talking on the two seater opposite her, or JJ who was sat next to her with leg bouncing up and down her head looking from the window to look outside then back again towards Emily every few minutes.

"My god!" Garcia yelled suddenly half way through Emily's reply to her last question effectively cutting off her reply as well as startling everybody on the jet, including JJ who had been looking out the window at that moment in time.

Garcia's sudden booming voice had caused her to jump visibly in her seat, which in turn caused Emily to look at her concerned for a moment before chuckling to herself afterwards at the blonde's reaction.

"How much longer is this going to take? I hate flying!" Garcia exclaimed further earning some amused looks from Hotch and Gideon who were currently playing cards a few seats over at a table.

"Aw Penelope, what's the matter? Are you scared?" Morgan jokingly mocked as he came to sit next to her on the two seater across from Emily and JJ.

"Don't worry I'll protect you." He continued with a chuckle his arm thrown around her shoulders, laughing harder as Garcia smacked his arm in retaliation for his teasing.

"Shut up, Derek." Garcia said folding her arms across her chest in annoyance.

"Oooo he just got 'Dereked', someone's in trouble." Emily whispered to JJ causing her to smile as she watched her friends banter in interest.

"You know you are actually ten times more likely to be hurt when traveling by train or car than you are by flying." Reid said from the other side of plane not looking up from the book he had been reading.

"Well thank you for that nugget of wisdom, Dr. Reid. Even though it does absolutely nothing to make me feel any better." Garcia sassed her arms still crossed.

"It's strange though, that more people are afraid of flying than they are of riding the train or bus or driving a car." Reid said putting his book down now, something had caught his attention.

"They say fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm, which makes it a completely rational feeling to be afraid of something. Yet people fear things that can cause them no harm, pain or danger the most making it at times completely irrational." He continued lost in thought.

"Are you trying to tell me what I'm fearing here is irrational! Let's hear your fear then, I bet its more irrational than mine is." Garcia spat angrily at the younger agent.

"No! Not at all, I'm saying what you fear is rational, it's true that it is less likely for you to be injured from flying compared to other means of transport, but it can still happen." Reid said quickly cutting her off before a full blown Garcia rant could happen.

"You didn't answer my question smarty-pants." Garcia said.

JJ had tried, unsuccessfully though, to hide her laughter at that one, the look on Reid's face when Garcia called him smarty-pants was hilarious.

"My fear. Well I guess it is irrational to some. I fear the dark. I don't like not being able to see what's in front of me." Reid said honestly.

Gideon and Hotch both looked over at this, dropping their cards to the table.

To them this conversation had just got interesting.

"My fear is rational like Garcia's." Morgan pipped up after a few moments of silence.

"I fear danger, pain and harm from my fear all in one go." He continued a slight mirth to his voice that did not go missed by any one on the jet.

"My fear is Emily Prentiss, that woman is deadly." He said ducking as Emily threw an empty plastic water bottle at his head in retaliation.

"I'm not that bad!" Emily exclaimed as her team mates around her laughed at her reaction.

"You better watch you back, Derek." Emily muttered under her breath.

"As scary as I'm sure Prentiss is, she can't be as bad you're driving Morgan. That's what I fear, every time I have to get into a car with you I fear for my life." Gideon said, his poker face on, the agents couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"There is nothing wrong with my driving." Morgan insisted confused.

"Tell that to those pigeons." Gideon replied, an eyebrow raised.

"Oh come on! That was one time, and I did honk the horn to try and move them." Morgan replied, as the rest of the team watched the interaction with amusement, none of them having heard about this before.

"After you had already ran two of them over." Gideon finished smiling as his team burst out in laughter at his retelling of the tale.

"What about you Hotch?" Reid asked intrigued after the laughter had died down.

"Me? I guess, if answering truthfully. My Fear at the moment is not being around to see my son grow up." Hotch said truthfully.

"Prentiss?" He asked moving the attention away from himself.

The jet was silent for a moment as everybody turned to look towards Emily awaiting her answer, she was one of the hardest person on the team to read at times, they all were interested to see a glimpse of what Emily truly feared.

"I think my biggest fear is that people won't accept me for who I am, they will just see me as an ambassador's daughter, or a rich girl, or an FBI agent. They won't see me." Emily said truthfully with a sigh.

"I'm working on my fear though, in fact I received some pretty good advice recently. I think the exact words were – screw them, if they can't accept you for who you are then they are not worth it." Emily finished with a smile.

"You know that's pretty good advice, whoever told you that is a keeper." Garcia said across from Emily a twinkle in her eye as she watched a small smile light on up JJ's face as well as Emily's.

"What about you JJ? Everyone else has told us something that they partially fear. What's yours?" Gideon asked, intrigued to see how she would answer.

Would she play it safe and make a joke like Morgan and himself had?

Or would she be truthful like the other members on the jet had been?

Gideon had expected the joke from Morgan, he didn't trust easily, trust with him had to earned and he rarely gave it.

Gideon had decided to give a joke fear as well to take the light off of Morgan for doing so, knowing the team would accept the jokes more if he himself did the same thing.

"There's lots of things I'm scared of, but I guess one thing I really fear is the woods." JJ answered, it was truthful, she did fear the woods it wasn't her worst fear but it was still a fear all the same.

"Didn't you grow up in a small town surrounded by woods?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. JJ answered simply.

"Damn, your childhood must have sucked." Morgan replied jokingly, not knowing how truthful that joke had really been.

"I couldn't get out of there fast enough." JJ replied trying to play along with the joke, shuddering at the thought of her home town, though not for the reasons that the team thought.

"What is it about the woods that scares you?" Reid asked intrigued, the woods on its own was an ambiguous answer, the real truth would come from the reason behind why JJ feared the woods.

"The feeling I get being there. It is so open, yet so closed in at the same time. It's so vast and open that you could get completely lost, yet no one would be able to find you because you're locked in one tiny area they cannot get to and you can't get out of." JJ replied honestly before she could stop herself, it was as though her mouth had a mind of its own.

The jet was silent again as everybody mulled over her answer, Garcia mumbling a thank you for ruining the woods for her forever now.

Emily and Morgan looked to each other as JJ turned to look out the window again, the profilers in them knowing that answer had more meaning and insight than JJ may have intended to give.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Twenty minutes later JJ was at the back of the jet making coffee, something that helped her relax when feeling closed in and confined, which was ironic considering the space in which the small kitchen was on the jet was incredibly small.

JJ thought it was the task itself that helped ease her mind, being able to concentrate on something else other than the feeling of being closed in.

"So, the woods huh?" Emily said from behind her startling JJ, who recovered quickly before turning to face Emily who had jumped up to take a seat on one of the counters.

"You know, a profiler might say that your reason for fearing the woods is in fact your real fear." Emily said picking at her nails before looking to JJ.

"I think it was the no one would find you because you're locked in one tiny area part in particular that tells your fear." Emily continued gently.

Emily had had her suspicions about JJ's strange behaviour on the jet for some time.

The way she always got nervous on long flights, the way she would continuously look at windows and doors all the time while on the jet.

The way she would always make sure she was last on but the very first off.

The relief her body showed as soon as the door reopened and she could leave.

It wasn't just on the jet either, Emily had noticed JJ never closed her office door completely.

When they shared rooms on cases she always had the window open and the bathroom door left ajar no matter what the temperature outside was.

When riding in the SUV's she would always have her window down ajar, even if it was pouring down with rain.

"I don't like small spaces." JJ admitted quietly.

"I know." Emily replied softly.

"Does the team know?" JJ asked embarrassed.

"No, they don't have to either, not if you don't want them to. I only just put it together myself, I've suspected it for some time but wasn't sure until you said that about the woods." Emily replied honestly.

"Fearing something doesn't make you any less of an agent than the rest of us, you know that right?" Emily assured her hating to see her so self-conscious and embarrassed.

"I know." JJ replied with a small smile, it was weird to JJ, Emily always knew what to say to make her feel better in a situation like this.

It was why she always went to Emily before anyone else on the team, she felt at ease with her, something she hadn't felt for a very long time.

With Emily everything was completely natural.

"I wish you had told me sooner, I could have helped you more." Emily said simply.

"You know now." JJ stated.

Emily nodded.

She did.

It was only now that she realised how private and quiet JJ really was.

She was glad JJ had let her know this about herself, even if unwillingly so.

"Are you okay with me knowing?" Emily asked watching JJ closely.

The question confused JJ at first, she wasn't used to being asked if she was okay with others knowing things about her, no one had asked her that before.

Before they just knew, everywhere else she had been before joining the FBI academy people knew everything about her, they knew her fears, her past, her demons.

They either tried to help with it in some rare cases or, more often than not, they used it against her.

She had tried hard not to let people get too close to see who she used to be, she had wanted a fresh start here.

There were somethings that she couldn't change about herself though, and one of those things was what she feared.

"Yeah, I'm okay with it." JJ replied after a moment's thought.

She realised she was okay with Emily knowing.

Emily was one of the rare few people that had tried to help her, and that was before even really knowing what the problem was.

Her fears, or this one anyway, were safe with Emily, just like Emily's were with her.

She was okay with that.

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AN: Dont forget to review and let me know what you thought of this one, as you may have noticed it ties in heavily with Connected as One the main story, and The First Case one shot from a while back.


	10. Nine: Fireworks

Hey guys, here is your next one shot, thank you to everybody who is reading and reviewing these, I hope you are all enjoying them.

Shout out to **Thalie57** , who requested and left the idea for this one shot, it is not completely what you asked for as I wanted this to be different from other people's take on a similar situation but I hope you enjoy what I have done with your idea.

Don't forget to let me know what you think!

* * *

 **One Shot Name:** Fireworks.

 **Synopsis:** Every year firework shows leave Emily feeling sick for a reason Emily herself doesn't know, this year maybe something or someone will make her feel differently about them.

 **Rating:** K+

* * *

 **Nine: Fireworks.**

Emily Prentiss was not a chicken.

She was not scared of anything that didn't have a valid reason.

Hardly anything could break through her tough exterior, apart from her mother's condemning looks of disappointment.

She was tough as nails and tried hard not to let what people thought of her get to her.

She was the queen of compartmentalising.

She put all her thoughts and feelings in little boxes in her mind and shut them away.

Of course there was that one little box that would not shut.

The box that held her feelings for one Jennifer 'JJ' Jareau.

Right now there was another box that was slightly open.

The box that held her hatred of fireworks in.

Yes hatred.

Absolute and utter hatred.

She didn't just not like fireworks, she hated them.

She hated the noises that made her jump.

She hated that fact they made her jump in the first place.

She hated the cold sweat she would feel upon knowing they were coming.

She hated the nauseating feelings she had while waiting to hear them exploding.

What she hated the most was the fact she had no idea why and where this hatred came from in the first place.

Since she was a small child they had always scared her and made her feel this way and she had no idea or reason why.

With her Birthday being in the middle of many different fireworks shows around the world she was always dragged to them as celebration by her mother who was clueless to her fear and hatred of the sparkling exploding monsters in the sky.

She was always able to hide her reactions to events that had fireworks in them until she started working with the BAU.

She was stupid to think she could hide this from them, a team, an entire building, of the best profilers in the world.

Of course they knew.

At least though, they had the decency to not call her on it.

Morgan would chuckle to himself when she told him she felt ill on a day of firework shows, Gideon would give her that little half smile of sympathy, Garcia would ask if she wanted company, Hotch would tell her, unless they were on a case, that she could work from home if she wanted.

They let it go because they knew of her need to be and look strong and in control.

Fireworks made her everything she didn't want to be.

In her eyes they made her weak.

 **Knock, Knock, Knock.**

"Garcia, I told you I'm not in the mood for company tonight!" Emily shouted as she walked towards the door to fend off the bubbly tech.

She knew that her friend meant well, but she didn't want her to see her like this, feeling the way she did, as sick as she was due to what was about to commence in an hour's time.

"Jayje?" Emily asked confused after pulling the door open.

"What are you doing here?" She continued after briefly taking in the blonde's appearance.

JJ was still wearing her work clothes, she was also carrying a supermarket carrier bag that Emily recognised as being the market across from where she lives.

Emily herself had changed from her work clothes hours ago, not feeling up to keeping her ambassadors daughters / FBI agents smart appearance, she had changed into sweats and a hooded jumper for comfort.

"You disappeared from work earlier, Garcia said you weren't feeling well. Sooo, I brought you soup and ice-cream, they always make me feel better." JJ explained pulling each item out of the bag as she mentioned them.

Emily had to forcefully stop her eyes from narrowing, knowing damn well that Garcia probably had a big part to play in JJ's turning up on her doorstep right now.

Why couldn't see have just told JJ that the reason she feels un-well is due to these damn firework shows, and that she would be better if left alone to place those feelings back in their little box in mind?

But no Garcia had to be, well Garcia.

She had to find a way to get JJ to come over here knowing that JJ was the one person she would not send away, that she couldn't send away.

"Yeah, think I have a cold or something." Emily said adding a cough at the end for good measure.

"Uhuh. Don't think that bottle of red will really help much in that case." JJ said raising an eyebrow in question noticing the bottle of wine sat on a table just inside the door with a bottle opener next to it, Emily had been about to open the bottle just as JJ knocked on the door.

"You're probably right." Emily said stepping aside to let the blonde in, damning her mind as the JJ box opened a little bit more, wishing she could just send the blonde away instead.

There was one part of mind screaming at her to do so, while the other part told her she needed to let someone in and stop pushing everybody away.

Closing the door Emily followed JJ through the hallway into her kitchen and took a seat on one of the kitchen island stools, resting her head atop her one hand on the table watching as JJ started to take the cans of soup and ice-cream tub out of the bag.

"Chicken noodle or Tomato?" JJ asked with her back turned as she put the ice-cream away in Emily's freezer.

"You pick." Emily said as she watched the way her friend moved confidently around her kitchen.

She would never admit this to anyone but she secretly loved the fact that JJ was here right now and attempting to take care of her, even if she didn't really need it.

JJ nodded, before grabbing the two cans of chicken noodle soup and opening them up, she placed the contents in a saucepan that she found in an overhead compartment above the cooker.

"So, are you going to tell me what's really going on?" She asked as she turned the right side cooking hob on and placed the pan over the heat before turning back to look at Emily expectantly.

"I told you, I think I have a cold or something." Emily said adding a cough again for good measure before shrugging her shoulders.

"Lair." JJ said simply.

"Excuse me?" Emily said confused.

"I know you're lying. After working with you and a group of the best profilers in the world do you really think I wouldn't be able to tell when someone is lying?" JJ said raising an eyebrow again before turning to the cooker and stirring the soup with a wooden spoon she had found in a small container near the cooker top.

"What happened to that no profiling each other rule?" Emily said amused and slightly impressed at her friend's ability to read her so well.

"More of an observation really. Besides, while we are on the issue, can you really tell me that you have never profiled me?" JJ said as she turned back around to face Emily.

"Okay you got me there." Emily said with a small smile which JJ mirrored.

"In my defence though, sometimes you're not very forthcoming with how you truly feel. You're good with words, you use them to hide behind." Emily said watching JJ's reaction to what she said.

"That's true I guess." JJ said, not many people knew that about her, it didn't surprise her one bit that Emily had picked it up though.

"You deflect." She stated matter of factually.

"Guilty." Emily replied with a smile.

Emily watched JJ turn back around to the soup again stirring it lightly, before turning back to face her again.

"You know on the jet you told me once that fearing something doesn't make me any less of an agent. It doesn't make you any less of an agent either." JJ said locking eyes with Emily.

"What makes you think I'm afraid of something?" Emily countered.

"You're acting the way I do on the jet. You're tense, you feel sick, and you're keeping everybody at arm's length so you don't have to tell them what's going on in your head. You don't want to tell them because you don't really understand yourself why you feel the way you do." JJ said quietly.

"You should ask Hotch to send you on the profiler's course, you really would make a great profiler." Emily said after a silence had filled the room for a few moments.

"Stop deflecting Em." JJ replied softly.

Emily looked at JJ releasing a long sigh before taking her head off of her hand and placing both hands on the kitchen island counter in front of her.

"It's this fireworks show tonight, it's got me all worked up." Emily admitted.

"You don't like the fireworks?" JJ asked, it was more of a statement than a question but she asked anyway for confirmation that she had understood what Emily was trying to tell her correctly.

"I hate them." Emily said looking down.

"I hate the fact they make me feel like this, every year everybody gets so excited for these shows, saying how pretty they are and how fun it is to watch. I try, I really do, but I hate them. The first bang makes me want to throw up and I have no idea why. It's the noise, I can't stand it, I hate that it makes me feel so weak." Emily explained feeling relieved at being able to tell someone how she really felt, yet ashamed of the way she feels at the same time.

She had never told anybody before, she knew the team knew, but she never spoke to them about it, she didn't want that look of pity people give you when they know you are afraid of something so trivial.

Both agents were silent again for a moment, JJ taking in what Emily had just told her, Emily refusing to look back up, refusing to see the pity she thought would be in her friend's eyes.

"Do you trust me?" JJ asked breaking the silence.

Emily looked back up at the question, she hadn't expected that, nor had she expected to see the understanding she saw in JJ's eyes when she looked up at her.

No pity.

Just understanding.

"Yes." Emily answered, she didn't even have to think about it.

"Good." JJ answered simply, turning back around to the soup and stirring again.

"Do you have a jumper I can borrow?" JJ asked her back still turned.

"Yes?" Emily said confused, the yes sounding more like a question.

"I'm taking you out somewhere, get some blankets and a couple of pillows as well." JJ instructed turning back around to face Emily who looked unsure.

"You'll be fine, trust me." JJ assured her.

"Okay." Emily said softly after a pause before jumping down from her stool to retrieve the items as JJ turned back to the soup and took it off the heat.

JJ then turned to an overhead cupboard near the fridge freezer and took out two heated flasks, she opened one and filled it with the now boiled soup, before flicking on the kettle to prepare coffee for the second flask.

 **Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Emily looked around after noticing the car had stopped to see that JJ wasn't behind the wheel, she could feel a soft breeze behind her.

She looked at her surroundings confused, they had been driving for around forty minutes or so but she had been lost in her thoughts and hadn't really been paying attention to where the blonde was taking her.

They appeared to be in the middle of nowhere, currently atop a cliff near some mountains overlooking the city which they had been driving through before.

Looking back she could see the car boot, that was facing the city, was open and JJ was arranging the blankets and pillows they had brought with them in the boot area.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked.

"Making sure we will be comfy back here for the show." JJ replied.

"What show?" Emily replied anxiously.

"You'll be fine, trust me." JJ replied assuring her the same way as she had earlier after hearing the anxious tone of her friend's voice.

"Feel free to come and help me anytime, lazy." She continued jokingly.

"I'm not lazy, I'm just comfortable where I am." Emily replied.

"Fine, no coffee or soup for you then." JJ said innocently before hopping in amongst the pillows and blankets she had arranged in the boot and relaxing.

JJ laughed as she heard Emily grumble something under her breath about blondes stealing her coffee before the passenger side door opened and then closed shortly after.

Smiling to herself JJ poured some coffee into two little plastic cups that were sat on top of the heated flask just as Emily came around and climbed into the back next to her, before settling down against the pillows and taking the offered cup of coffee bringing it up to her lips to take a sip.

"Where the hell are we anyway?" Emily asked after taking her sip of coffee, looking to her side she could see the soup had also been portioned out and still steaming hot.

"There's a clifftop trail up there, this is the highest point you can drive to till you have to hike the rest. It's the only place I found in the area that isn't surrounded by woodland. I come here when I need space to think because it's quiet." JJ explained.

"You come here alone?" Emily asked surprised.

"Usually. You're the first person I've brought out here." JJ replied.

"Christ Jayje! You could end up being one of the victims we profile, coming here alone at night." Emily said concerned.

"I usually come here in the day time, I've only been here once before at night. Besides, tonight I've got the big bad Emily Prentiss with me for protection. I think I'll be alright." JJ joked before taking a sip of her own coffee.

"That's why you wanted me to sit in the back with you then, to be your bodyguard?" Emily joked taking a sip of her own coffee before turning back to JJ.

The fireworks show had just started and so far Emily had yet to notice as she was too busy watching JJ and enjoying the conversation they were having.

As she watched the younger agent she couldn't help thinking about how the cream knitted jumper she had loaned her friend looked so good on her and brought out the colour in her eyes.

"That and to enjoy the show better." JJ replied after finishing her coffee and placing the cup down in the boot bringing Emily out of her thoughts.

JJ turned to watch Emily, watching as the older girls face showed surprise at seeing the fireworks, she watched as her muscles tensed at first before relaxing.

"I can't hear them." Emily stated, surprised and relieved.

"I know." JJ said settling back against the pillows and blankets before letting her head drop on Emily's shoulder as she turned to watch the fireworks show.

JJ smiled to herself as she felt Emily relax next to her placing her own finished cup of coffee down before turning to watch the show as well.

"Thanks Jay." Emily said simply.

She was so grateful right now she didn't know how to express herself other than saying a simple thank you, she knew that JJ would understand, just like she understood how Emily felt earlier.

As she watched the now almost completely silent firework show she found herself able to close the little box in her mind that held her hatred for fireworks and for the first time in her life she found herself seeing the true beauty they could hold.

All that was thanks to JJ, her best friend, the one person she couldn't keep hidden in a box in her mind, the one person that understood just how she felt even though Emily didn't understand that herself.

* * *

 **AN** : Dont forget to let me know what you thought!


	11. Ten: Antidote To A Bad Day

Hey everybody Thank you for much for all your reviews and for everybody reading likeing and favoring these, it makes me happy to know you are enjoying these, please dont forget to let me know of any requests, and to those of you who have asked about the looked in the closest scene mentioned in the main story, dont worry it will be coming I just want to write these in order as to when they happen in the story timeline, which means all the friends ones first before scenes like the locked closest one shot and others in there first few months dating and so on. Hope you thats okay with you all :)

Righty so this one I will admit is a angsty one sorry guys, but also rather fluffy too! Hope you all enjoy and please dont forget to let me know what you think!

* * *

 **One Shot Name:** Antidote To A Bad Day.

 **Synopsis:** JJ finds one day particularly hard due to the anniversary it represents, for years it had been her 'bad day' today though she may have found her antidote to that 'bad day'.

 **Rating:** T.

 **Warnings:** Mentions of suicide.

* * *

 **Ten: Antidote To A Bad Day.**

Today was a bad day.

It was only 8.30 in the morning and it was already a bad day.

It had been a bad day since the clock had struck midnight declaring the beginning of the day.

JJ had slept through her alarm after not being able to sleep last night.

Finding her self so exhausted she had finally passed out twenty minutes before her alarm was due to go off and slept for an hour through the repeated missed alarm notifications on her phone.

Her kettle had broken meaning she had to leave her apartment with no coffee this morning.

Her car wouldn't start meaning she had to get the bus to work and run the last few blocks from the bus stop so that she was not late into the building.

She hadn't realized till she got to the building that there was still a coffee stain on her top from yesterday, so even though it was a hot day she was going to have to wear her cardigan done up all day long just to hide it.

The reason why she hadn't realized was not only due to her being tired from not sleeping, or flustered from everything else that had happened in the morning so far, but was also due the fact that this day was a bad day every year.

Today was the anniversary of the day that JJ's sister Rosaline had killed herself.

This day was going to be bad enough on its own without the added pressure of everything else that had happened so far and probably would continue to happen weighing down upon her.

Every year this day brought back all JJ's memories from that night, when in the early hours of the morning she had found her sister in the bathroom with her wrists slit, dead.

This day brought back all the pain, all the confusion and all the memories that JJ always tried so hard to forget, especially now she was working with a team of the very best profilers.

Every year all JJ wanted to do was crawl into a hole and be left alone until the day had ended, but this year she couldn't.

She had a job to do.

She had people depending on her.

She had to at least try to work through the day even if she ended up biting every one's head off or even bursting into tears due to the stress her mind was under.

That was if she was even able to stay awake long enough to work through the day.

She had no idea how she was going to hide the inner turmoil in her mind from her colleagues and friends.

This was something she didn't want them to know.

This was something from her past, something she wanted to leave behind.

Pausing briefly by the door to the Bullpen, JJ sighed bracing herself, before walking through the doors and keeping her head down so she couldn't see the members of the team that were already there.

She knew if they saw her right now they would know something was wrong and the last thing she wanted was the team asking her questions and trying to profile her behavior to figure out what was going on in her mind.

"Hey, JJ! High Five!" Morgan said loudly, stepping in front of JJ's path, blocking her way to her office and cutting off her stream of thoughts causing her to look up at him startled.

Still stuck in her thoughts, not having time to catch up with what was going on around her, she didn't register her hand automatically lifting to high five Morgan until she felt the searing pain of the slap to her hand from Morgan's.

One of Morgan's practical jokes was to slap the other persons hand far too hard when giving a high five, the team knowing this usually declined the offer of a high five when he asked.

Emily was the only one who accepted only so she could try and hit him back harder.

"Morgan how hard did you slap her? She's bleeding!" Reid exclaimed from his chair, he sat next to where JJ was standing frozen to the spot.

The hard slap of Morgan's hand hitting her own hand momentarily stunned her and her mind was only just starting to catch up with what was going on around her.

Finally registering what Reid had just said JJ lowered her hand slightly to see that it was bright red and that there was indeed blood coming from a small cut that Morgan had somehow caused.

How she had no idea, he wasn't wearing a ring, maybe he caught her with his fingernail?

She didn't think on it for two long, the sight of the blood caused her to remember finding her sister.

The sight of the crimson red liquid dripping slowly down her hand made it hard for her to concentrate on what Morgan and Reid were saying to her.

She could hear Morgan and Reid talking, but she couldn't register them or what they were saying as she continued staring at the blood trickling slowly down her hand.

It wasn't until she felt a hand on her shoulder that she snapped out of her trance, her whole body jumping as she jerked her head to look to her side.

Looking up to her left she could see Emily stood behind her, handbag in hand, having obviously only just arrived at the office.

She could see Emily talking to her, looking concerned, but she couldn't hear what it was Emily was asking her.

Her mind was still trying to catch up with what was going on around her, she was still dazed with memories of seeing her sister in the bathroom with a pool of blood around her, blood running down her hands to the floor.

Quickly JJ shook her head trying to clear her thoughts and focus her mind on what was happening around her.

"Sorry, what did you say?" JJ asked not hearing a word that her friends had just been saying.

"Are you okay?" Emily asked concerned as she looked into JJ's eyes seeing the faraway look on her face, it was the same look JJ had when they got on the jet when leaving for a case.

"Hmm?" JJ asked again still not registering the question causing Reid and Morgan to share a worried look while Emily continued to watch JJ closely.

"Yeah. I'm fine, think you dazed me." JJ replied throwing a small smile in Morgan's direction as her mind now caught up with everything happening around her.

"I should get to work, unless you wanted to try and take off my other hand as well?" JJ joked mockingly towards Morgan before stepping around him to walk up the stairs and into her office.

"That was weird right? I mean, it wasn't just me that thought so, right?" Reid asked spinning on his chair before coming to a stop in front of where Emily and Morgan where stood looking towards JJ's office.

"Maybe it's her time of the month?" Morgan replied with a shrug only to wince in pain and clutch his side as Emily elbowed him hard in the stomach.

"That, is for 'that' stupid comment." Emily said with a smirk, emphasizing the 'that'.

"And this." Emily continued before smacking him on the back of the head, hard.

"Is for your stupidly hard high fives!" She called over her shoulder as she walked up to JJ's office and entered through the open door.

Emily smiled to herself as she heard Reid telling Morgan 'he had that coming' as she entered the office and pushed the door to pulling the blinds down, giving her and JJ some privacy from the other agents down in the Bullpen.

Turning around Emily paused for a moment to study her friend.

Currently JJ was sat at her desk with a file open staring down at it, Emily could tell she was not reading it though.

"First aid kit?" Emily asked getting down to business, leaving no room for JJ to argue with her or to try to tell her she was fine or that she would sort it.

Emily watch as JJ sighed closing the file in front of her before opening a desk draw on the table that she was sat in front of and taking a small box out.

Slowly JJ stood from her chair and walked over to a couch in her office taking a seat on the one side and placing the first aid kit to the side of her as Emily walked up to the couch and sat on the other side picking the kit up and looking through the contents.

They were both quiet for a few minutes while Emily found the supplies she needed to clean and dress the cut on JJ's hand and JJ tried to control the thoughts going through her mind.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on in that head of yours?" Emily asked breaking the silence as she finished cleaning the blood from JJ's hand and placed a plaster over where the cut was.

"Don't say you're fine, I know you are not. Just like you knew I wasn't sick last week." Emily continued while putting the first aid items back in the box and placing the box on the couch's arm rest that was closest to her, before scooting over closer towards JJ.

"I'm…having a bad day." JJ admitted with a sigh.

Understatement of the century she thought to herself.

"I gathered that." Emily replied smiling.

"I also gathered there's more on your mind than Morgan being, well, Morgan." Emily continued leaning back against the sofa to make herself more comfortable.

"Yeah." JJ said simply her fingers running over the plaster on her one hand, where the blood had been before, absentmindedly.

"Anything I can help with?" Emily offered not liking seeing her friend the way she was now.

JJ had helped her with what was plaguing her mind last week when they had driven out of town to watch the fireworks together.

Emily really wanted to help JJ now with whatever it was that was now plaguing her mind, in whatever way possible.

Most people would assume JJ was tired and just not in the mood for talking.

Emily could see it was more than that.

There was something going on in her mind that was eating her up on the inside, something painful.

She knew deep down the likelihood of JJ talking to her or even asking for help was slim, it had taken her months to tell her the reason why she was always anxious on the jet.

Granted it had taken Emily months to tell JJ that she was gay, but this was different.

From the look in JJ's eyes Emily could see this wasn't just something that she feared it was something that haunted her.

"I could really do with a hug." JJ replied almost in a whisper, truthfully, after a long silence.

She didn't want to talk about the thoughts going through her mind, but she also didn't want to be left alone with them like she usually found herself.

Emily always had a way of making her feel safe without even trying.

They had hugged many times before, but only once when JJ was scared and needed calming down.

During in that one time though the effect had been almost instant, and right now JJ needed to feel that safety.

She wanted to feel it more than she wanted to be alone.

More than she wanted to hide what was happening in her mind right now and pretend that everything was okay.

"Come here." Emily murmured as she sat up straight on the sofa pulling JJ around to face her gently, by her shoulders, before embracing her tightly.

"I know you don't want to talk and that's okay, but if you change your mind or if you need anything you tell me okay? Whatever this is that's eating you up inside, you don't have to face it alone, alright?" Emily asked, her one arm tightening around her friends waist as her other hand began running up and down JJ's back softly, casing the blonde to let out a tired sigh.

JJ let her head drop to Emily's shoulder and closed her eyes as she felt her tired muscles begin to relax from the warmth she felt from being in Emily's arms.

"Tired?" Emily inquired quietly to the blonde agent nestled against her, smiling after she felt JJ nod against her shoulder.

Emily squeezed JJ a little tighter in her arms for a few moments before releasing her and smiling gently as she studied her for a moment.

"Why don't you lay down and rest for a while." She instructed continuing to watch as JJ looked from her to the office door.

"I'll tell them you're not feeling well, just get some rest okay? No offence but you look like you need it." Emily continued jokingly with a smirk as she got up from the couch giving JJ's shoulder a squeeze as she stood.

"Gee, thanks." JJ replied with a smile.

"Just calling it as I see it." Emily said with a laugh shrugging her shoulders as she reached the door.

"Emily, wait." JJ called just as Emily was about to leave her office.

"Hmm?" Emily replied turning back around to see JJ sat up on the sofa looking at her with wide nervous eyes.

"Could you, maybe, stay with me?" JJ asked quietly.

It wasn't talking, but it was a step in getting there and for that Emily was thankful.

She hadn't wanted to leave JJ alone but knew it wasn't a good idea to push her too much.

JJ asking her to stay meant she wanted Emily to help with whatever it was that was going on even if she wasn't fully vocalizing what was wrong.

"Of course. Just let me get some files to work on while I'm in here with you." Emily said with a smile, she watched as JJ nodded in confirmation before turning and leaving the office quickly making her way back down into the Bullpen.

Reaching her desk Emily picked up a small pile of files she had on her list to do today and grabbed her handbag before muttering to Morgan that JJ was feeling un-well but refusing to go home so she was going to do her work in JJ's office so she could keep an eye on her.

She rolled her eyes when Morgan eyed her suspiciously, muttering under his breath about whether she was sure it wasn't blondie's time of the month, before turning back around and walking up to JJ's office closing the door to, the same way she had done beforehand.

Upon hearing Emily entering the room JJ, who had been falling asleep leaning against the arm of the couch, snapped her eyes open and lifted her head back up to make it look as though she had not just been falling asleep.

Emily seeing this smiled at her with a raised eyebrow giving JJ a knowing look before crossing the room and dumping her handbag next to the couch on the floor.

Sitting down on the couch on the opposite side to JJ she placed the files she had brought with her on the arm rest moving the first aid kit to the floor, before shrugging off her blazer as she pulled JJ gently by her arm to lay down on the couch with her head resting on her lap.

JJ tried to resist at first but as soon as her head hit Emily's lap and she felt Emily place her blazer over her like a blanket she found she didn't have a lot of fight left in her.

She sighed sleepily as Emily ran her hand up and down her back a couple of times before leaving her hand to rest against JJ's shoulder stroking softly with her fingers.

JJ was exhausted and knew that if she wanted to get any work done today at all she would need to sleep even if only for a couple of hours.

She found the warmth from feeling Emily's pant suit covered lap against her face and the hand on her shoulder incredibly relaxing.

As she listened to the sounds of the faint scuffing Emily's pen made against the paper she was writing on in the file she was working on, she found herself feeling comforted by the fact that she was not alone.

She felt her mind begin to wander as her body relaxed further into the couch and into Emily.

She started to worry about what the team would think if they walked in right now, even with what Emily had told them she was sure it would look strange.

A 22 year old FBI agent needing a nap in the morning because she wasn't feeling well, how was that professional?

What if she ended up having one of her nightmares and starting screaming in her sleep?

What would that say about her abilities to do her job?

What would Hotch and Gideon think?

Would they think her unable to do her job and send her home?

There would be no way she could get away without talking to someone after that.

Even with that possibility she found herself relaxing further, she found sleep slowly approaching as her mind still ran on over drive.

She thought about how she usually tried to be alone as much as possible on this day in previous years and how today she found herself not wanting to be alone, how she found Emily's presence comforting.

That was why she asked Emily to stay with her, she found herself wanting to be comforted but without having to spill everything going through her mind.

Garcia would force her to talk as she always wanted to know everything there was to know, knowing was just her way of letting you know she cared.

Hotch and Gideon would send her home telling her that everyone has an off day and with everything they all see and the work she does she's more than entitled to a day to sort her mind out when needed.

Reid would sprout random facts at her, which although would distract her at first, would ultimately end up making her annoyed and fed up.

Morgan would joke around as usual and probably end up hurting her feelings, or hurting her in general by accident, without even realising or meaning too as he was just trying to help in his own way.

Emily would just be there, not demanding, not expecting, not judging, just there.

Like she was now.

"I can hear your mind running a marathon." Emily joked from above, her hand moving from JJ's shoulder to stroke her hair lightly, the action pulling JJ out of her thoughts.

"Just relax Jay, I'll wake you if anything happens." Emily promised quietly still stoking JJ's hair, the action coaxing her into sleeping and letting her exhausted mind finally shut down.

"Thanks Em." JJ muttered sleepily barely hanging onto consciousness.

As she slowly drifted off to sleep she had one final thought on her mind.

Today was a bad day, but it was more bearable than it had been in years due to Emily.

Emily made every day more bearable.

Emily was the antidote to a bad day.


	12. Eleven: Birthday Surprises

Hey guys, thank you to everybody who is reading these, I hope you are all still enjoying them. Thank you so much for your review as well I love to hear your thoughts on these one shots and don't forget to let me know if you have any requests you would like to me to try and write in.

This one is more Emily based, but had some team interaction and Jemily moments as well, those that read Connected As One the main story should recognise part of this one shot as it has been briefly mentioned in the story, don't forget to let me know what you think.

* * *

 **One shot name:** Birthday Surprises.

 **Synopsis:** Emily's Birthday is full of surprises this year all of which are good for Emily but some of which are not as good for other members of the team.

 **Rating:** K+

* * *

 **Eleven: Birthday Surprises.**

Today was usually one of Emily Prentiss's least favorite days of the year.

Today was her Birthday.

Every year this day held disappointment.

As a child and young adult she was disappointed that her mother seemed to never have the time to take one day from her job to celebrate her Birthday with her doing something she enjoyed doing.

Instead her mother would always drag her along to one of her fancy political Ambassador parties and show her off.

Emily hated those parties, she hated the stuck up people she had to make small talk with, she hated that her mother always tried to set her up with some wealthy family's son.

She hated that there was always a massive fireworks display in her honor.

It was ironic her mother had always picked the one thing she hated the most to honor her Birthday with.

It just showed how little her mother knew her.

That fact became even more apparent when Emily finally had the courage to come out to her mother and tell her that she was gay, that she preferred to date women over men.

The two Prentiss's had had a massive confrontation about it with Emily accusing her mother of never taking the time to learn anything about her.

Her mother had been shocked at the learning this about her daughter and had taken it very badly.

The two of them didn't speak for well over two years after the confrontation, which even though it hurt her, Emily found better than having to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn't.

She didn't have to suffer through anymore parties or blind dates with dirt-bags that her mother set her up with telling her they would be a good suitor for her.

It wasn't until recently that they began talking again.

Elizabeth Prentiss had come to Emily and her team asking for her help for a friend of hers whose father bad been abducted.

The two had worked closely on the case, as well as with the rest of the team, and had managed to solve the case without any more victims having to lose their lives.

Emily had been surprised after the case was over that her mother had asked her out to dinner.

Not a flash party with lots of people, a dinner with just the two of them.

Her mother didn't try to show her off, she just spent time with her.

They had talked that night, more than Emily could ever remember them talking before in life.

Her mother had even let slip about how impressed she was with the younger members on her team.

She was impressed with Dr. Reid's intelligence at such a young age and Agent Jareau's ability to control the media so well.

Even thought they were talking somewhat now, she had still dreaded her upcoming Birthday expecting the phone call or party invitation to arrive by post like it always had every year before their confrontation when Emily had come out to her mother.

However she was pleasantly surprised when this morning came and instead of a party invitation awaiting her or a phone call with instructions that a car would be waiting for her by so o'clock, there was a Birthday card.

A Birthday card written personally by her mother wishing her a good day and asking her to call her when she had some free time not working on cases so they could arrange to meet up for dinner again.

Emily had been shocked, she could not remember ever receiving a Birthday card from her mother, especially not a hand written one.

Usually she would receive a fancy dress to wear to whatever party she was to be dragged to, her mother's way of making sure she dressed appropriately for the function.

It made her glad that she had had that confrontation with her mother in the first place.

Even though the rejection she had felt hurt at first and made her worry about telling others about her sexual preference, it made her glad that her mother seemed to be seeing her for who she was.

Finally seeing and accepting her as Emily, not Emily Prentiss the name, but Emily the person.

That was why this year was different to every other year.

This year Emily thought that maybe, just maybe her Birthday wouldn't be as disappointing as it usually was, it had already started out well.

She didn't mind didn't mind having to work on her Birthday, she loved the people she worked with dearly and she loved her job just as much.

She liked the good they were able to do, she liked the fact that she was needed and she was useful, and that she was good at what she did.

She found that today as she walked into the Bullpen with spring in her step she stopped to say thank you and smiled at every agent that wished her a happy Birthday as she passed them, rather than scowling and growling under her breath at them like she usually did.

Walking up to her desk to place her hand bag down something caught her attention.

On her desk was a small tuba-wear box with a green envelope placed on top.

On the envelope Emily's name was written in fancy writing, not recognizing the writing Emily quickly tore the envelope open wanting to see who it was from and what was inside.

Inside was another Birthday card making her smile, someone else remembered that it was her Birthday with enough pre-empting to actually go out and buy her a card and not just say Happy Birthday to her in passing or text her.

Opening the card she began to read the message inside:

 _To Emily,_

 _I hoped to mislead you with the fancy writing on the front which is a lot different to my usual chicken scratch!_

 _Wishing you a very Happy Birthday!_

 _I Hope you get everything you want and more, you deserve it. You are a brilliant friend and an even better person and just remember if someone can't accept you for who you are, screw them!_

 _Jennifer._

Emily smiled re-reading the card again, the writing was so distinctly JJ, in both the way it looked and the way it read.

She laughed remembering when JJ had first given her that piece of advice, and in truth it didn't surprise her one bit that JJ had written it in the card for her Birthday.

JJ was one of the only people that knew the extent of the hurt Emily's mother had caused her with her rejection.

Even though they were on better terms now Emily was still wary, and it looked as though JJ was too, as well as protective it seemed.

"Happy Birthday Sweet-Cheeks!" Garcia exclaimed as she waltzed up to Emily placing a kiss on each of her cheeks before handing her a medium sized gift bag.

Emily smiled in thanks, placing the card from JJ that was still in her hand down on the desk before opening the gift bag and pushing some tissue paper to the side to pull out a small clay candle holder.

As she inspected it she could see that it had been painted and had small star shaped holes in it for the light to flicker out from.

On closer inspection Emily could see it was handmade, Garcia had been attending evening pottery classes once a week the last few months and this was obviously something she had made for her during in this time. 6

"Thank you Pen, this is really sweet of you." Emily said genuinely.

"Do you like it?" Garcia replied with a smile, wanting confirmation that she had done well in her pottery classes.

"It's great, those classes are paying off for you." Emily assured her causing Garcia's smile to bloom larger.

"Oooo!" Garcia suddenly exclaimed.

"Who made you that? And why aren't we eating it yet!" Garcia said excitedly eyeing the cake in the tuba-wear box on Emily's desk. It was no secret that Garcia loved sweet things, especially cake with lots of icing on top like this one had.

"That's from Jayje, the card too." Emily said pointing to the card she had stood up on the desk when Garcia had given her the gift bag a few minutes ago.

"I didn't know our Gumdrop baked." Garcia said after a moment's thought.

"I'm not sure if she does either." Emily replied looking to the cake and opening the lid to take a better look.

"I'll get a knife so we can try some." Garcia volunteered quickly, turning to leave.

"I wouldn't if I were you." Emily said causing Garcia to stop in her tracks to look at Emily confused.

"A few weeks ago Jayje took me on a trip out of town and she made us some soup, you know those cans you boil for five minutes on the hob?" Emily started to explain as Garcia nodded in understanding.

"Well she burnt it, if that's even possible. It was meant to be chicken noddle, but the noddles were burnt and black, so the soup had little black bits floating in it." Emily continued.

"Jayje thought they were croutons." Emily finished causing Garcia to laugh.

They were both silent for a few moments, after Garcia's laughter had calmed down, just looking at the cake unsure.

"It might have just been a one off with soup." Garcia said hopefully.

"Maybe." Emily said sounding unconvinced.

"Do you really want to be the guinea pig that checks that theory out though?" Emily continued raising an eyebrow in Garcia's direction.

 **Cmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcmcm**

An hour and a half later the team, minus Garcia who had stayed behind in Quantico, were on the jet on their way to investigate a new case.

When the team had got on the jet everyone had taken their usual seats for take-off, afterwards gathering around the center seats where JJ and Emily were sat to wish Emily a happy Birthday and to give her some gifts.

Reid had given Emily a Japanese linguistics dictionary and phrase book, saying he remembered her saying that her Japanese was rusty and how she wanted to work on it again.

Morgan had given her a photograph of her real present that was far too big to bring into work, he said he would drop it off at her apartment when they got back from the case. The photograph was of a mirror that he had encased in beautiful old wooden window shutters that he had finished off with varnish and carved. He had made the gift himself with left over materials from his renovation works.

Hotch and Gideon had given Emily Birthday cards from each of them, both of them promising to take the team out for dinner and drinks upon their return from the case to celebrate Emily's Birthday.

JJ had given Emily two more presents to add to what she had left for her on her desk this morning. The first of which was a small wooden cat carving she had brought from a market after seeing Emily eye them up when they had gone shopping a week ago together. The second of which was a book by Emily's favourite author that she had yet to read as she kept forgetting to buy this particular title.

Emily had thanked them all for the gifts and found herself touched at the thoughtfulness her team had shown in the making and finding of the gifts.

It seemed her team took more attention to her likes and dislikes than she had realized.

The team had then begun going through the case after this and had their assignments sorted for when they landed, they were now just waiting for the jet to reach its destination which was likely to be another half an hour yet.

As usual JJ was getting restless due the amount of time they had been stuck on the Jet.

She had spent half of the time sitting next to Emily fidgeting nervously while Emily tried to distract her, the other half making coffee for herself and her team mates to give her something to do.

Currently JJ was in the kitchen compartment of the jet making some more coffee, she could hear Garcia talking through the on flight system having just found out some more information on one of the victims, and she could also hear Morgan rummaging around in the fridge behind her looking for something to eat.

"What the hell!" Morgan yelled suddenly, clutching around his jaw, causing JJ and the rest of the team to turn and look at him in alarm.

"Who put this rock hard cake in here? I think I cracked a tooth on it." He exclaimed further as JJ narrowed her eyes at him noticing a piece of the Birthday cake she had made Emily on the side with a chunk missing out of it.

Hearing the commotion Emily looked up to the computer screen to meet Garcia's eyes almost laughing as she did so, before mouthing the words 'don't say anything' to her causing Garcia to have to turn her back to hide her laughter from the team.

"Morgan! That was Emily's Birthday cake." JJ said indignantly.

"What are you trying to do to her? Are you trying to make her lose all her teeth before she's thirty?" Morgan replied while rubbing his jaw, before picking up the tuba-wear box from the fridge with the cake in, adding the piece he had taken a bite out of, and throwing it in the bin to the side of him.

"This thing is not suitable for anyone to eat. Remind me to never eat anything you cook again." Morgan muttered under his breath before leaving the kitchen compartment and going back to his seat on the jet, JJ staring daggers at his back before turning back around to the coffee machine to pour herself a coffee, as the rest of the team on the jet and Garcia on the computer screen laughed at the scene the just played out in front of them.

"Morgan stop it!" JJ cried out having to side step Morgan's boot as she walked back out the kitchen compartment with her coffee, only just missing tripping over his purposely outstretched leg.

"What?" Morgan replied innocently.

"You did that on purpose." JJ insisted looking down at him as he shrugged his shoulders in response.

JJ glared at him before continuing her way down the aisle to sit down next to Emily again as Morgan watched smiling to himself before looking over to Reid who was sat opposite him reading a book.

"I'm getting her back for this, you in?" Morgan said.

"No way, Emily will have our heads if we do anything to her." Reid said declining instantly not even looking up from his book as Morgan huffed in response knowing it was the truth.

The whole team was protective of JJ and Reid to, to an extent, with both of them being the youngest members on the team.

Emily however was incredibly protective of JJ, Morgan had found that out the hard way after he had tried to set the blonde up and left her alone at a bar with one of his friends.

Morgan sat with his arms crossed watching as Emily and Garcia were talking to a sulking JJ causing her to laugh at something Garcia had said about croutons not being black, before she turned to Emily and apologized about ruining her Birthday cake.

"They knew about it!" He exclaimed quietly so only Reid could hear him causing Reid to put the book he was reading down and look over to Morgan confused.

"The cake, Emily and Garcia knew, they planned this." Morgan said.

"Now you are just being paranoid." Reid replied going to pick his book back up, stopping after Morgan insisted that he looked at the interaction the three girls were having.

Reid turned to watch them as Morgan watched as well, they could see Garcia on the computer screen imitating Morgan's reaction to having eaten the cake, they watched as Emily was almost crying in laughter and how JJ starting laughing as well at Garcia's re-enactment.

"You know, you might be right, they don't seem overly surprised about it, maybe they knew JJ wasn't great at cooking." Reid said turning back to Morgan now.

"Of course I'm right. Now are you going to help me or not?" Morgan asked.

"You do know this will become a war right?" Reid asked still unconvinced.

"Oh I'm betting on it, time to pick a team pretty boy." Morgan said with a smile.

Morgan loved a good prank war, he was the king of prank wars, he always won.

Those girls were going to go down and anybody else who choose their side, he would make sure of it.

* * *

 **AN:** Let me know what you thought!


	13. Twelve: Drunk & Drunker

Hey guys, sorry for the delay in this update, as those that read the Connected as One main story may know, I had been in hospital the past week after having an operation I had been waiting some time for but was rushed in rather unexpectedly due to a cancellation, I'm home and healing now and back to writing woo.

Again sorry for the delay here, hope you like this one. Thank you to everybody who is reading and reviewing these one shots I love to hear your thoughts and what you make of these so please continue to do so and if you have any ideas and thoughts I will try to write them in here.

* * *

 **One shot name:** Drunk  & Drunker.

 **Synopsis:** Morgan has been waiting a long time to play his hand for the pranks wars, he decides the BAU staff Christmas party is the perfect setting, thought the prank does not play out how he had planned it to, it does have some interesting results.

 **Rating:** T.

* * *

 **Twelve: Drunk & Drunker.**

Emily was exhausted.

The BAU Christmas party was always a fun night, a long night but a fun night.

It was always filled with cheer and plenty of alcohol.

Although this year too much alcohol for some people.

The consumption of said alcohol wasn't particularly their fault.

That was a set up by one Derek Morgan.

Thinking back on it, Emily knew that she should have seen this coming.

Morgan had all but promised retaliation for the cake incident on her Birthday, he had gloated about how good he was at pranks.

It had been almost two months since then.

Emily had forgotten all about it, she shouldn't have.

She should have read the signs, she should have realised what Morgan was up to and got out of there as soon as possible.

She should have picked up on the fact that Morgan seemed to be supplying herself, JJ and Garcia with lots of drinks tonight, and that the more of those drinks they drunk the more hyperactive and more energetic they became.

The main reason she didn't really notice this till after was due to the fact she was enjoying seeing JJ act so freely, so confident, it wasn't till the younger agent jumped up on a table to dance and almost fell off it onto Gideon that Emily realised she was drunk out of her mind.

The other reason she had not noticed is because she herself had drunk a far few of Morgan's cocktails and was well on the way to getting completely wasted herself too.

She should have just continued on and got wasted herself, but that little voice in the back of her head was nagging at her, telling her she needed to stop drinking, telling her that someone needed to be sober enough to help the girls out if needs be.

She knew the guys would have taken good care of them, but she also knew that was what Morgan wanted, he wanted to get them all drunk out of their minds so he could record them doing ridiculous things to embarrass them with.

The other reason she knew she could let the boys end up taking care of them all was JJ, she knew JJ was extremely distrusting of men and would not allow them to take care of her and probably injure herself trying to look after herself.

Something Emily had picked up on in her time knowing the younger agent was that she had a distrust towards men, which in itself is not a bad thing, but was something that intrigued Emily to no end as she had no idea why JJ held this distrust.

JJ always knocked men back she met on nights out, she to Emily's knowledge had not been on a date since they started working together saying she had yet to find anyone she liked.

Emily had noticed JJ was very tactile after she got to know a person.

She was tactile with the whole team, she would always give out little touches of affection to team members shoulders or arms, and frequently gave out hugs, but even with the team Emily had noticed she was more likely to do this with herself and Garcia first over the boys.

The thing that really baffled her was that the blonde distrusted men greatly, but to her knowledge was completely straight, not that she thought JJ's distrust in men meant she way gay.

This distrust she noticed, was the reason she had decided to stop drinking tonight, so she was available, and sober enough, to take the girls home and look after them if needs be.

She really wished she hadn't done that now, she would give anything to be in her room in her large comfortable bed fast asleep, but instead she was stuck with one extremely hyperactive playful drunk, and another who could barely keep her eyes open long enough to walk a few steps on her own.

Garcia and JJ it seemed were both hyperactive drunks, however the later had moved into the tired drunk stage.

After the team left the party it was clear neither of them would be able to get home and look after themselves after the amount of alcohol they had consumed, which meant the three of them had got a taxi back to Emily's for the night.

Upon returning to Emily's apartment, the three of them had made a mess trying to get a now very sleepy and intoxicated JJ to the bedroom, who had knocked a fair few things over on the way.

An overly excited Garcia, had started building a couch cushion fort half way through the attempt to carry JJ's half asleep drunken body to the bedroom abandoning Emily with that job.

Emily had managed to get JJ to her bathroom and set her up with clothes to change into to go to sleep in before leaving her to her own devices for ten minutes as she went to find Garcia to stop her from destroying her living room further.

Upon returning to the bathroom Emily had found that JJ had managed to change in to the sleep shorts she had given her, but had fallen asleep sitting on the closed toilet seat her forehead against the bathroom sink before being able to change into the old t-shirt Emily had given her.

Now she was left with the task of trying to change a very drunk, very sleepy JJ.

Sighing Emily couldn't help but find the sight rather adorable before she walked over to JJ and gently lifted her head from its leaning place against the sink and gently pushed her back a little on the closed toilet seat so she was leaning against the back of the toilet with her head against the wall.

As soon as Emily's hands left the blondes head it lolled to the side again her eyes opening to blink once before closing again.

"Come on Jay, help me out a little here." Emily said, more to herself knowing the blonde was too far gone to really pay attention to her.

Right, Emily thought to herself, you can do this. You can change her into this old t-shirt without stopping to oogle her.

With all those thoughts racing through her head she couldn't help feel bad, she was a 28 year old FBI agent who was getting excited at the prospect of seeing one of her best friends, who she had developing feelings for, with her top off.

Yes, Morgan was really going to have to die for this one, he may have thought he had won, but the war had only just begun, Emily would and will get him back for this.

Pulling herself together Emily placed her hands at the hem of JJ's top and began to gently pull it upwards revealing the blondes stomach.

"No, get off, leave me alone." JJ Drunkenly mumbled trying to swat Emily away, her eyes opening up again, barely.

"It's just me Jay, I'm just helping you finish getting changed." Emily told her friend after dodging another swat as JJ began to struggle a little more against her.

"Stop it, don't wanna." JJ whined pulling herself away from Emily, her top falling back down.

"Don't want you to see." She continued her arms coming up to cross around herself almost protectively.

Emily sighed standing, she was tired and already beating herself up about the thoughts that had been running through her head, and now JJ was all but saying she didn't want Emily looking at her.

"Just because I'm gay, doesn't mean I'm going to stare at your boobs or anything like that Jennifer." Emily said turning to leave, she turned half way around when she felt a sudden pressure on her back and arms around her waist holding her in place.

"No wait! I didn't mean it like that I swear. I'm sorry Emily, please don't be mad. I didn't think that at all, I just hate anybody seeing my body." JJ said quickly, her speech slurring in some places.

Emily sighed again, she should have known JJ didn't mean it to sound that way, JJ has been nothing but supportive and had not changed the way she acted around her since she came out to her one bit.

Emily placed her hand on top of JJ's that was on her stomach holding her in place, letting her know through touch that she believed her and that they were okay.

"Why don't you like people seeing your body?" Emily asked, wondering what it was JJ didn't want her, or anybody else to see.

"I have some…marks…they look strange…people don't like them; I don't like the look I get when people see them." JJ said releasing Emily while talking, her hands wrapping around herself self-consciously again as she looked down.

Emily turned to find her in this position and was stunned for a moment.

She had never seen her friend look so self-conscious before, nervous yes, but not like this.

"Where are the marks?" Emily asked crouching down in front of JJ again, she wanted to know what they were but could tell asking now would not help.

"On my back." JJ replied swaying slightly on the toilet seat, she was still very drunk, though the conversation had sobered her mind a little bit it hadn't her body.

"Well I doubt I would be able to see them helping you change while in front of you like I am and I promise I won't try to look, but if you are still uncomfortable I can get you a jumper to wear over your top instead." Emily offered.

"You promise you won't look at my back." JJ said after a moment's thought.

"Promise." Emily assured her.

Emily watched as JJ nodded before trying to take her top off herself right in front of her, however with her drunk limbs not working as well she found herself stuck in the head hole with her arms above her head.

Emily laughed as she helped JJ remove the top and placed it to the side before helping her into the old T-shirt she had given JJ to wear to bed that was a bit too big for JJ and looked slightly baggy on her.

The process took just under a minute and by the end of it JJ was fully changed and ready for bed, now completely exhausted leaning her head against Emily's shoulder slumped forward now on the toilet seat.

"See that wasn't too hard now was it?" Emily joked laughing slightly.

"Emmmilllyy. I'm sleepy, stop moving." JJ whined her forehead still attached to Emily's shoulder.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." Emily said pulling herself and JJ up to a standing position, her one hand on the sink to steady them both as she allowed JJ to lean on her, her other arm around her waist keeping her upright.

"You trying to get me into bed now Prentiss? First undressing me now this, you flatter a girl." JJ teased tiredly with a smirk.

"You wish Jareau. You have been spending far too much time with Morgan this evening." Emily said as they stumbled out of the bathroom and into the bedroom.

Together they managed to make it to the bed where Garcia had now passed out, lifting back the covers with one hand Emily guided JJ into the bed with her other hand before covering up and turning off the bedside light.

"Get some sleep, yell if you need me." Emily said to the already half asleep JJ before turning to leave the room.

"Emily." JJ said softly just as Emily was at the door causing her to turn back around and look at her.

"Yeah?" Emily replied.

"Can you stay with me?" JJ asked sounding more awake now.

There was something in her voice that Emily couldn't pin point, it was as though JJ was afraid to be left alone, even though she wasn't.

Or it could be that JJ was just drunk and emotional and Emily was reading far too much into things.

Emily just wasn't sure which one it was.

"You have Garcia with you Jayje, you're not alone, and I'll be right down the hall." Emily said.

"I want you to stay though, please." JJ said sitting up in the bed causing Garcia to mumble and turn in the other direction.

Emily sighed rolling her eyes, as soon as JJ had asked her she knew she would be staying.

She couldn't say no to her, especially when she looks at her with those eyes she can tell the blonde is using even if the light isn't on.

"Budge up a bit." Emily ordered as she walked up to the bed again, climbing into the space that JJ had made for her and laying down on her back next to her friend.

She smiled to herself slightly as she felt JJ wriggle up next to her and cuddle into her side her arm draping across her stomach.

She laughed as JJ nudged her a couple of times before rolling her eyes and lifting her arm so JJ could snuggle up to her side closer and she could place her arm around JJ's back.

"Better?" Emily asked as she felt the blonde settle against her, JJ's head resting on her shoulder and upper chest.

Emily chuckled after feeling JJ nod her head against her.

"Should have guessed the only reason you wanted me to stay was to be your personal hot water bottle, you know Garcia would have happily cuddled up with you right?" Emily joked.

"I like her but I didn't want Garcia, I wanted you. I like it when you hold me." JJ mumbled sleep in her voice.

"I've noticed." Emily replied the hand around her friend back rubbing her arm gently.

"You make me feel safe." JJ confessed drunkenly, half asleep.

"You don't feel safe when other people hold you?" Emily probed, the profiler in her curious of the comment.

"I don't let other people hold me." JJ breathed out barely awake.

Emily thought for a moment and realised that what JJ had said was truthful.

In her time knowing the younger agent she had noticed JJ was always the first to pull back from a hug, and she would never hug people for a long time, expect from when hugging herself.

JJ hugged her longer than others, JJ allowed Emily to hold her, invited it even granted she was drunk both times this had happened but she still invited it all the same.

It was clear JJ had self-confidence issues in her personal life that she hid very well in her professional life, but at times like these when Emily got to see these issues and see behind the walls JJ had built up she found herself feeling privileged.

Privileged that JJ trusted her enough to allow her to see them, even if she didn't realise she was doing so.

Privileged that JJ allowed her to hold her this way when she wouldn't let others.

It gave her hope, that maybe her feelings where not one sided.

For JJ to trust her like this she must have feelings for her, even if those were just very strong friendship feelings, it gave Emily something to work with, to work towards.

Smiling Emily pulled the now sleeping blonde a little closer to herself and closed her own eyes, settling down for sleep herself.

She knew if Garcia woke to find them still in this position that there was would endless teasing that it had happened again but right now she didn't care.

All that mattered was that JJ had wanted her and Emily wanted her back.

* * *

AN: let me know what you thought, also who would like the next morning one shot to this, I have an idea to write it but I'm not sure if you guys wanna see it, let me know and if you do, well i guess this one will be a two shot haha.


	14. Thirteen: The Pillow

Hello again, well it seems a fair few of you wanted the next mornings events from our girls so I decided to write that one up for you, its a humours one, hope you all enjoy. Thank you again for all your reviews, please keep them coming! Dont forget to let me know if you have any ideas you would like me to try and write up here.

* * *

 **One Shot Name:** The Pillow.

 **Synopsis:** The morning after the BAU Staff Christmas Party brings sore heads and some interesting conversations for some members of the team.

 **Rating:** T.

* * *

 **Thirteen – The Pillow.**

"Urgh." Garcia grumbled while rolling over in the bed.

Her head hurt.

Her body ached.

How much did I drink last night? she thought to herself.

Yawning, her eyes still closed, she stretched her arms out stopping only when she felt her left hand hit something.

Opening her eyes, she squinted slightly before looking to her side, a smile breaking out onto her face at the sight she was met with.

Emily was still laying on her back like she had been last night with her arm around JJ who was cuddled into her side. Through the night JJ's head had moved down to a more comfortable position laying across Emily's chest using her one breast as a pillow. JJ was almost holding Emily in place with her one arm that was thrown across Emily's stomach, her hand holding on tightly to Emily's sleeping shirt subconsciously.

They look adorable together, Garcia thought to herself.

She knew Emily would kill her for this, but she really wanted to take a photograph of them.

Looking to the bedside table Garcia located her phone and as quietly as she could she leant over to pick it up and open the camera application.

Getting up to kneel on the bed Garcia leant over the two seemingly slumbering agents and clicked capture on the phone taking a photograph.

"Did I not yell at you enough the last time you did this?" Emily said suddenly her eyes still closed.

She had been awake the whole time and had heard the shutter sound Garcia's phone makes when taking a photograph.

Garcia jumped at her friend's voice, startled, and fell off the bed onto the floor with a loud bang which in turn woke up JJ who had actually been asleep unlike Emily.

Confused and disorientated JJ sat up in the bed looking around the room for the source of the sound she had just heard that pulled her from her sleep.

"Jesus Em, are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Garcia said breathlessly her hand over her heart as she popped her head up to be seen above the bed.

"What happened?" JJ said still dazed, sleep in her voice.

"Garcia just didn't learn her lesson enough the last time Jay, don't worry." Emily said trying to hold back her laughter as she pulled on the T-shirt she borrowed to JJ to sleep in, pulling her back to lay down on the bed next to her as Garcia picked herself up from the floor and also got back into the bed next to them.

"Neither did you two from what I saw." Garcia mumbled, getting comfortable under the covers after grabbing her phone from the floor to see the photograph she had taken.

JJ looked confused at the comment while Emily look irritated that Garcia had yet another thing to hold over her head in regards to her growing feelings for JJ.

The rational side of her brain told her that maybe if she just told Garcia of her feelings she would stop teasing her and maybe even start helping her with these feelings.

The prideful side though, told her to deal with this herself, and to try and shut Garcia up whatever way possible.

"You two are so cute when you get all cuddly like this." Garcia said showing JJ the photograph she had taken before Emily could stop her.

"Oh my god!" JJ exclaimed turning bright red after seeing the photograph.

"Emily I'm so sorry." She continued turning to Emily in embarrassment.

"Don't be, it was a cold night you kept me warm." Emily replied quickly with a joke trying to lessen the blonde's embarrassment.

"Yeah you don't look to be complaining from the photo." Garcia said enlarging the image on her phone screen to show Emily's peaceful expression causing Emily to also turn red in embarrassment.

"Garcia! Stop that!" Emily exclaimed making a grab for the phone almost climbing over the top of JJ to do so causing Garcia to squeal and try to escape from the bed.

"No way, you are not making me delete this one too, this time its staying!" Garcia yelled as she stood on the bed holding the phone up high out of Emily's reach.

"This one? Wait, this has happened before?" JJ asked confused causing Emily to stop dead in her tracks and look at Garcia in annoyance.

"Oh yes Gumdrop, seems you two are quite the little pair of snuggle kittens when we have nights out. Remember our girl's movie night after that guy got a bit grabby with you at the bar? Well let's just say I woke to find a similar sleeping arrangement then too." Garcia replied smugly with a laugh as Emily face palmed herself sitting back down on the bed muttering how Garcia had promised not to mention that again.

That photo had been even worse than this one, due to the fact Garcia had managed to snap of photograph of them while Emily's hand was on JJ's butt rather than her back.

"Was that why you guys were arguing the next morning?" JJ asked after a silence the pieces falling together in her mind.

"Maybe." Emily said in defeat as Garcia sat back down next to her, victory written on her face, she had just saved the photo to her I-Cloud system for backup.

"Sorry." JJ said self-consciously thinking it was her fault for Emily's embarrassment.

"Jayje – don't. I don't have a problem with the cuddling I wasn't embarrassed by that." Emily said, not liking the way JJ seemed to blame herself for what had happened, it wasn't just on JJ these positions they kept finding themselves in, it was just as much her fault as it was JJ's.

Garcia's head snapped up at Emily's comment, a knowing look in her eyes as smile broke out over her face.

"Yes I think it was more the compromising position of her hand that had Emily embarrassed that day." Garcia said giggling to herself.

"What?" JJ said not understanding.

"My hand, may, have been on your ass, slightly." Emily said blushing again, it was no use hiding it now, Garcia was obviously not going to keep her mouth shut.

"Oh." JJ replied.

The room was silent for a moment till JJ burst out laughing loudly.

"Well now I feel a little better about using your boob as a pillow." JJ said through her laughter causing Emily to chuckle as well.

"And you thought it was _me_ trying to _you_ into bed last night Agent Jareau." Emily said jokingly, emphasising the 'me' and 'you'.

"Oh, no! I can't believe I actually said that." JJ said her head in her hands in shame as Garcia burst out laughing at hearing what JJ had said the night before.

"Seems we are quite the pair." Emily said leaning back against her headboard as JJ nodded in response before nudging Garcia with her elbow who had yet to stop laughing finding the whole situation hilarious.

"We were so drunk last night; I don't even remember drinking that much." JJ said leaning back against the headboard next to Emily, her head resting slightly against Emily's arm, Garcia nodding her agreement as she laid back down on the bed again.

"That would be thanks to Morgan, seems he decided it was time to get payback after your cake ruined his tooth on the jet." Emily said.

"Well he wouldn't have ruined his tooth if he hadn't had been so greedy, that was your cake." JJ said folding her arms across her chest.

There had been some amount of teasing to both Morgan and JJ after the cake incident, for JJ it was still a sore subject, she didn't understand why everybody thought her cooking was that bad.

"Would you have rather I was the one that chipped a tooth on it?" Emily asked looking to her side to look at the top of JJ's head.

"Well, no, but the cake can't have been that bad." JJ insisted.

"I still don't get why he's going after us too, I mean JJ sure, it was her cooking that caused this, but we didn't do anything to him." Garcia said yelping when JJ smacked her on the arm.

"He's adamant we knew about it." Emily replied simply as Garcia rubbed her arm.

"So the hangover's we have now is his payback?" JJ asked confused, Morgan had sworn payback, this didn't seem that much of a payback compared the images she had had in her mind for weeks.

"I think they are a bi-product. I think he wanted to get us all wasted so he could make us do things that would embarrass us at a later date. Once I saw what he was doing I stopped drinking so I could take care of you two, and foil his plan in the process." Emily explained.

"Although, I think looking after you two was payback enough, he is probably going to try something else soon knowing Morgan." Emily continued after a thought.

"Oh come on, we weren't that bad." Garcia scoffed in disbelief to Emily who raised an eyebrow at her.

"You, destroyed my living room building a fort out of everything and anything you could find, and flashed my neighbours on the way up in the elevator." Emily said indicating to Garcia.

"And this one." Emily started, shaking her shoulder to wake up a now dozing JJ, who jumped up before slumping back against her again.

"This one fell asleep half way through getting changed in my bathroom, then refused to let me leave this room because, and I quote, 'I don't want Garcia'." Emily finished amused by the night's events, what she had told them was only the tip of the ice-burg.

"Gee thanks Jayj, I'll remember that for when you want a favour next." Garcia said sulking.

JJ though did not hear her, she was asleep again leaning against Emily's shoulder.

"How can she sleep in that position?" Garcia asked after noticing JJ's quietness and noticing she was asleep again.

"Guess I'm a good pillow." Emily replied shrugging her shoulder that wasn't being used as a pillow.

"So, any ideas on what we are going to do about Morgan?" Emily asked looking at Garcia over the top of JJ's head.

"I'll come up with something." Garcia promised, a large grin on her face, she enjoyed a good prank war as well.

* * *

 **AN:** Next one will be one written as a request you will find out whose when the one shot goes up.

Dont forget to review and let me know what you thought.


	15. Fourteen: Damn Pot-holes

Hello all, hope you are all well, here is your next one shot.

Shout out to **Thalie57** , who came up with the idea for this one shot, hope it is all you imagined and more, if possible hehe.

Thank you again to everyone who is reading and reviewing these, please keep on doing so I love hearing you're thoughts! and if you have any ideas wont want me to try and include let me know!

* * *

 **One shot name:** Damn Pot-holes.

 **Synopsis:** While driving to an interview for a case Emily and JJ run into a few problems that take them on a interesting road for help.

 **Rating:** T.

* * *

 **Fourteen: Damn Pot-holes.**

"Hey Em?" JJ said looking over the top of the SUV where Emily was crouched down trying to connect the car jack under the SUV's one tire.

"Jayje, for the love of god! I know how to change a tire okay?" Emily replied, frustrated as she couldn't get the jack connected right.

"I believed you the first time, but I don't think it's going to help changing just that tire." JJ answered.

"What?" Emily asked, clearly confused.

"I think this one has punctured too." JJ answered her.

Throwing the car jack that was in her hands down, Emily wiped the dirt from her hands on to a cloth before standing and walking over to the other side of the car where JJ was stood looking at a very flat tire.

"Well that's just great!" Emily exclaimed.

"Damn pot-holes." She continued.

The two of them had been driving out to interview a victim's family for the case they were currently working on, when the SUV hit a massive pot-hole in the road and had suddenly spun out of control.

Emily had managed to regain control of the SUV and park up safely on the side of the small road they had been driving down.

After getting out the SUV to check the driver's side tires Emily had noticed that the back driver's side tire was completely blown out due to hitting the pot-hole when the car had spun out of control.

It seems that the passenger's side front tire had also been blown out from the impact of hitting the pot-hole.

"I take it there's only one spare?" JJ asked, receiving a nod in response.

"Any ideas for a plan B?" She asked.

Emily took her phone out of her pocket and looked at it.

No reception.

Not at all surprising considering they were in the middle of nowhere having just driven through a woodland road.

Emily looked in the direction that they were travelling, she had remembered seeing a sign a few miles back that had told them the nearest town was at least 15 miles away, which would be a very long walk.

Emily turned to look towards the woodland road they had just driven through, she remembered seeing a small diner on the side of the road which they passed just before the road sign, possibly three or four miles back.

Right now, it looked to be their best bet, the area the diner is in may have better cell reception, and if not, could have a payphone they could use to contact the team.

There was only one problem with this plan.

JJ hated the woods.

"Kinda, but you're not going to like it." Emily replied turning back to face JJ.

"I think we should head back to that diner we passed a few miles back that way." Emily said pointing to the woodland road they had just passed through.

Emily watched as JJ looked from her to the road behind them, then back to her again with her eyes wide.

"You're not joking, are you?" JJ asked gulping.

"The nearest town is over ten miles away, and we can't stay here." Emily reasoned.

"Why not? The team will come look for us when they realise we haven't come back." JJ argued, she did not want to have to walk back up that woodland road, right now she would do anything to make sure that didn't happen.

"We have been on the road for nearly two hours Jay, they won't even realise we are missing till morning, they won't be expecting us back till late. Do you wanna spend the whole night in the SUV on the side of the road." Emily replied.

"Well, no. But I don't want to walk through the woods either." JJ said folding her arms and pouting.

"I promise I won't let any grizzly bears eat you." Emily joked while she walked over to the other side of the SUV and began to pick up the tools she had been using to try and change the flat tire with.

"Not funny Emily!" JJ said turning her back and leaning against the SUV away from Emily who chuckled to herself as she placed the tools back into the boot of the SUV.

Looking back to JJ, Emily could see the blonde was sulking while leaning against the passenger side door, usually she would find the sight hilarious, as well as the slightest bit adorable.

Right now though, she found her heart quenching a little for her friend.

All joking aside, JJ did look rather scared, Emily could tell by her posture.

JJ's shoulders were drawn in tightly together, her jaw was clenched, her arms were wrapped around herself tightly.

JJ had not been joking when she told the team she was afraid of the woods.

Silently, Emily picked up their go bags that had been in the boot of the SUV and closed the boot before locking the SUV and placing the keys in her pocket.

Emily then walked up to where JJ was leaning against the passenger door and dropped their go bags to the floor before turning to fully look at her friend.

"I know this isn't ideal, but it's the best we have right now. I don't like this any more than you do Jay, but the faster we get going the faster we can get out of these woods, okay?" Emily reasoned.

"Stupid damn pot-holes." JJ muttered angrily looking to her feet.

"Come here." Emily said as she pulled the blonde into her arms frowning at how tense the younger agent was while she began to gently rub a hand up and down her back.

JJ sighed before resting her forehead against Emily's shoulder not yet returning the hug but also not pulling away from it either.

"You know, it's not fair that you keep using my drunken ramblings against me. Just because I told you I feel safe when you hold me, it doesn't mean you get to do it to stop me from being moody too." JJ said her voice muffled by Emily's shoulder.

"I'm not, I can see that you are scared and I don't want you to be. But, if it also stops you pouting that can't be a bad thing either." Emily said jokingly towards the end.

"Shut up!" JJ said slapping Emily on the arm before wrapping her arms around Emily's waist to return the hug causing Emily to laugh loudly.

"I'm not scared." JJ continued adamantly, before pulling away from the embrace and re-crossing her arms over her chest as Emily looked at her disbelievingly.

"Sure you aren't." Emily replied picking up JJ's go bag and handing it to her before picking her own go bag up and throwing it over her shoulder.

"Why are we taking our go bags?" JJ asked confused.

"Tell me we are not staying the night out here!" she exclaimed her eyes going wide.

"We are only taking them in case we have to find somewhere to stay. Hopefully we won't have to, but this way if we do, we won't have to come back through the woodland road to get them." Emily replied trying to calm her friend.

"It's just a precaution, okay?" She continued, watching as JJ nodded.

"Just a precaution." JJ repeated to herself.

"Come on, let's go." Emily said turning towards the woodland road and beginning to walk up it, JJ following closely behind her.

"Em?" JJ called after they had been walking around ten minutes.

"Yeah?" Emily called over her shoulder.

"If, we have to stay here, can we just get the one room and share?" JJ asked quietly, speeding up a little bit to catch up to Emily and walk beside her.

"Of course, I was going to suggest we do that anyway." Emily replied to JJ who smiled gratefully to her in return.

"Em, you were right." JJ said suddenly twenty minutes later as they were still walking along the woodland road, the road was darker now as the sun was setting due to it nearing night.

A small wind had picked up making the tree branches blow around noisily, other than that the road had been quiet, not a single car had passed them.

"I am scared." JJ admitted quietly with her head down, she felt embarrassed, but she knew Emily probably had guessed she was scared already.

Emily had called her on it before they even started walking, and that was before she had begun to jump at any sudden sound made by the wildlife living in the woods.

Looking towards her Emily could see JJ was very tense next to her, tense and afraid.

Not liking seeing JJ that way Emily swapped the hand in which she was holding her go bag in and wrapped her one arm around JJ's side, pulling her a little closer towards herself in the hopes of making her feel a little more at ease with the situation.

"I don't think it's too far now. We'll get to the diner, you can have some of that disgusting ice-cream and fry dip you enjoy so much and then we will see where we go from there, okay?" Emily said smiling when she saw JJ laugh about the ice-cream and fries.

"Long as you try them this time." JJ replied moving herself closer to Emily and wrapping her own free arm around Emily's waist to keep her close.

"No way Goldilocks, you can keep what's in your bowl to yourself." Emily joked bumping JJ with her shoulder and laughing as she nearly sent the blonde flying to the floor, who had not been expecting the bump, with a squeal causing a flock of her birds to fly away squawking loudly.

The sound of the birds mixed with JJ's unbalanced footing caused JJ to fall on her butt in a muddy patch on the ground looking around herself confused as to what had just happened.

Emily paused her laughter for a moment to see if the blonde was okay before bursting out in even more laughter.

"Emily!" JJ exclaimed.

"You said you wouldn't let the bears eat me, not that you would throw me at them." She continued scowling at Emily who was still laughing with her hands on her knees for support.

"You're face, that was hilarious." Emily said through her laughter as JJ continued to look at her unimpressed, trying to stop her lips from curling into a smile as her friend continued to almost cry in laughter.

"I hate you right now, just so you know." JJ said while picking herself up from the ground, she crossed her arms and shook her head as Emily finally calmed her laughing down.

"Aw Jayje, don't be like that. I'm sorry okay? I couldn't help it; your reaction was pretty funny." Emily said trying to apologise, she didn't want to hurt the blonde's feelings.

"For you, maybe. I thought we were being attacked or something!" JJ replied sulking.

"Attacked by what? Flying bears?" Emily said with another laugh at which JJ didn't respond, although her cheeks did start to pinken slightly in embarrassment.

"I don't think I have ever heard you squeal like that." Emily said still chuckling to her herself.

"You really suck." JJ replied annoyed.

"I'm sorry, really I am. I didn't mean to scare you like that honest." Emily said walking up to JJ and wrapping her in a one-armed hug, seeing her friend was annoyed with her and pretty shaken up.

"If you tell anyone about this I'll shoot you in your sleep." JJ said resting her forehead against Emily's shoulder again as she tried to calm down her thumping heart, fear still pulsating through her.

"I won't, I swear." Emily promised as she ran her hand along JJ's back before pulling away.

"Can we get out of here now." JJ said looking around them nervously seeing how the road was now getting darker, the night time drawing in closer.

"Sure." Emily said grabbing both of their go bags in her one hand and JJ's hand in her other as the two of them continued along the woodland road towards the diner together.

"I want a large fries and large ice-cream when we get to the diner." JJ said side glancing at Emily as she tightened her hold on Emily's hand, who smiled in return.

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AN: So there we go, dont forget to drop me a review and let me know what you thought :)


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